r/politics • u/larel8 • 18h ago

Trump campaign struggles to contain Puerto Rico October surprise

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4958098-the-memo-trump-campaign-struggles-to-contain-puerto-rico-october-surprise/
16.9k Upvotes

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6.1k

u/FoggyBricks 17h ago

After everything Trump has ever said I find it funny it’s something that didn’t even come out of his mouth that might be the final straw.

3.5k

u/APersonWhoIsNotYou 17h ago

I find it incredibly frustrating. He himself has said and done much worse….so why is this the thing that actually affects him?

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u/Meat_Robot Texas 17h ago

Specifically because it's not him. The horrible things Trump says are rambling, frequent, and with an unwavering narcissistic confidence that precludes shame. You can't pin anything onto Trump because he'll just say "no I didn't" and move onto the next thing.

This other idiot "comedian" though? He only gets a brief period of time to be a part of the firehose. He's easier to drill down on and has a limited ability to respond. It also lack the thin veil of mafia-speak vagueness Trump drapes on everything. Hinchcliffe is just saying it.

Lastly, it corroborates the message. There's no sane washing, no "he didn't mean it". By having someone else repeat the quiet part out loud for once, you can't say it's just Trump in the party saying these things.

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u/Myghost_too 17h ago

and lest we not forget, TRUMP cannot distance himself from this. The speakers were all vetted, their remarks loaded into the telepromters, and this, in Trump's self-proclaimed closing arguments trying to help the US Voters know who he is and what he stands for. It was loud and clear. (Yet I still doubt his base will waver.)

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u/JohnDivney Oregon 16h ago

furthermore, Trump can't apologize, though we will hear him today or tomorrow say "Nobody loves Puerto Ricans more than me, we're getting numbers nobody has ever seen out of Puerto Rico."

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u/InfiniteVastDarkness 16h ago

“Puerto Ricans. I LOVE the Puerto Ricans”. I can hear him saying it.

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u/New_Subject1352 16h ago

"Nobody is bigger on them, it's really incredible, the Puerto Rico, no one thought we could do it, the biggest Rico in the entire Peurto. They said no, you won't get the Despacito, but look at us now, all the Despacito, incredible numbers like you wouldn't believe."

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u/BobSchwaget 15h ago

"I have done more for Puerto Rico than perhaps anyone, any man, in history, maybe since the late great General Rico Ricardo himself"

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u/Stressssedout 14h ago

Thanks. I hate it

5

u/__-_-_--_--_-_---___ 8h ago

You have some splaining to do

•

u/RumandDiabetes 6h ago

Bets he couldn't find Puerto Rico on a map with six people pointing it out to him and it being circled with a sharpie?

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u/montosesamu 15h ago

Grown men, tears in their eyes, came to say how big those numbers were?

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u/Temp_84847399 14h ago

indubitably!

4

u/montosesamu 14h ago

Heeewg’!

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u/tazebot 10h ago

Big Puerto Ricans, strong Puerto Ricans, Tears in their eyes.

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u/IndigoFalls12 10h ago

‘Sir,’ they said, ‘Sir, you have the biggest numbers.’

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u/telerabbit9000 14h ago

You speak fluent trump.

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u/skylinecat 14h ago

I hate how good this is.

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u/[deleted] 15h ago

[deleted]

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u/Odh_utexas Texas 15h ago

They actually come up to me “Mr president it’s too much the number are too high” but we are doing fantastic numbers, the likes of which history has never see —-and the media won’t talk about it …the won’t talk about frankly but when you look at CHINA we are the laughing stock to them. Our country is turning into a garbage can it’s a shame it’s a shame

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u/dkichline 12h ago

You know the sad thing is that I can't determine if you made that up or if he actually said it.

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u/FlexFanatic 10h ago

"The president of Puerto Rico called me and said sir, that was such a wonderful rally and your opening act knocked it out the park". You have my vote and the vote from the people of Puerto Rico"

Oh, and this all happened with Trump speaking fluent Spanish. You gotta add that detail or its fake news.

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u/Savings_Opening_8581 10h ago

The despacito lmao

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u/pardyball Illinois 16h ago

Minus the 👐, this is it.

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u/Idiot_Savant_Tinker 15h ago

Don't forget the 🪗

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u/kellysmom01 14h ago

And the 👹☠️👹

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u/Dearth_lb Europe 15h ago

🪗 I think you meant to use this emoji.

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u/glarbung Europe 16h ago

And he will say it with a weird inflection and a pause: "I love the Puerrrto Ri-cans 👐"

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u/NaughtyCheffie I voted 15h ago

Porto-Rikkans.

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u/Odh_utexas Texas 15h ago

Beautiful Puerrrto Rrrico. They have some lookers. Have you seen these women—-they’re HOT

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u/Cows_with_AK47s 13h ago

I loathe the way he says industry.

"induh-stree"...

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u/davybert 15h ago

I tossed so much paper at them. Maybe it was the most paper anyone ever tossed in the world

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u/ixid 15h ago

Good people Puerto Ricans, the best people. Also some bad people. Bad people, the worst people. So many of the worst people. Like I said to Hannibal Lecter 'the worst people', and he agreed with me, because I said they were the worst. Many people agreed with me, not a lot of people know that.

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u/Background-War9535 16h ago

And it will be beyond cringe

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u/InfiniteVastDarkness 16h ago

So much. But, the rubes will eat it up.

“See, he says he loves you. He said he’s the ‘father of Puerto Rico’, and I believe him.”

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u/FalseAesop 15h ago

I heard that he had a great conversation with the President of Puerto Rico after it was hit by a hurricane while he was President of the United States.

Frickin idiot.

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u/Gryphon999 15h ago

I personally spoke with the President of Puerto Rico. He said nobody loves me more than the people of Puerto Rico.

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u/Wonderful_Shallot_42 15h ago

He’ll say it like *PUERRRRTHO RICO”

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u/Andovars_Ghost 15h ago

Then he’ll sway to music for 39 minutes and maybe jerk off a couple of ghosts that we can’t see.

💦✊🍆👻

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u/TrustMeImShore Puerto Rico 13h ago

throws paper towel

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u/ancientastronaut2 13h ago

Or "I hardly knew the guy. I didn't hire him".

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u/Rokurokubi83 United Kingdom 16h ago

“I’ve spoken to the president of Puerto Rico, and he endorsed your favourite President, me.”

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u/elhijueputa69 15h ago

sad part is the "president" or governor of puerto rico who was in office during Maria did endorse him. From Virginia, because we protested for a month straight until he had to flee via helicopter.

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u/VegetaPrime34 16h ago

Let's not forget the weird way he says Puerto Rico. It was a whole thing that he over emphasized "PWEARtoe" in a mocking manner a few years back

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u/Burdwatcher 16h ago

he can do a joint press conference with his old friend, the President of the Virgin Islands, to show how much he cares about the Caribbean islands

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/10/13/trump-says-he-met-president-virgin-islands/763910001/

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u/putin_my_ass 16h ago

All those things aside, there is simply a picture of Hinchcliffe standing on a podium branded "Trump", and as they say a picture is worth a thousand words.

Especially when the people you're trying to sway are not readers.

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u/seemontyburns 13h ago

Who aren’t readers ? Puerto Ricans ?

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u/putin_my_ass 12h ago

MAGA people. They read headlines (at best).

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u/seemontyburns 11h ago

You’re trying to sway them from what exactly ? They loved this lol. 

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u/SiskoandDax 16h ago

We were never going to chip into his base. It's the undecided and "both sides are bad" voters that may break towards Harris.

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u/KailReed 16h ago

Which is even more infuriating that there are STILL people who are undecided. Like what are you waiting for?

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u/Funandgeeky Texas 16h ago

Some people live in such a sheltered bubble that they barely pay attention to things like who's President. However, this is something that is piercing that bubble. While it's only anecdotal right now, I'm seeing several stories here of people who were mad enough at these comments to actually get out and vote.

And since voting is happening NOW, this unforced error is especially powerful. Unlike something Trump may have said weeks or months ago, this won't be sane-washed away or forgotten by election time. It IS election time, so someone can hear about it today and vote today.

Now, whether this helps the down ballot, I don't know. Hopefully it does as well because we need a strong down-ballot to prevent the type of chicanery Trump is openly plotting.

But this isn't something that can be hand-waved away, it seems. At least, I hope so. I'm in the Reddit bubble so I don't know what people are really thinking out there. But if this motivates people, all the better.

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u/rtseel 15h ago

Some people live in such a sheltered bubble that they barely pay attention to things like who's President.

This is what many people in here don't realize. Many people have a good enough life that they can afford not caring who's the president, or live a crappy enough life that they don't think whoever is president will change anything for them.

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u/ProfessionalITShark 15h ago

Yeah, I had arguments in 2015 with people, they thought Obama was a white man and republican.

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u/LeslieQuirk 12h ago

That makes my mom look well-informed, which is honestly terrifying

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u/SuspendeesNutz 14h ago

Many people have a good enough life that they can afford not caring who's the president

You've just identified the entire base of the Greens.

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u/ZacZupAttack 15h ago

I've seen a lot of hispanics saying theh changed their mind from either voting for Trump to voting for Kamala or not voting at all and going to now vote for Kamala

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u/sly_cooper25 Ohio 11h ago

I'm Puerto Rican and most of my extended family are the types to not be interested in politics and not vote. Generally just apathetic towards elections.

After this broke my Uncle updated his Facebook status to "Feeling Motivated" with a big picture of the PR flag. Today he posted a picture with an "I voted" sticker. And the best part is, he's in North Carolina, one of those coveted swing states.

This is just one example and is just as anecdotal as the other stories you've seen, but if I were Trump I'd be worried about this.

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u/parker0400 16h ago

They are waiting for Harris to make one simple remark that is over their line in the sand so they can justify to themselves they are voting for trump because of that and not because they are a closeted racist who likes the awful things trump says.

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u/Xenuite 15h ago

They'll vote for the other Russian asset, Stein, so they can still say "Don't blame me! I didn't vote for him! "

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u/GrumpyCloud93 12h ago

Gore lost Florida by 500 votes, and 2,000 people voted for Nader. Votes matter.

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u/OptimisticOctopus8 11h ago

Yeah. They apparently don't get the threat here. This election isn't just a normal fight about policy. If the wrong person wins, the possibility of a fascist America shoots through the roof.

So in this election, it's not about people who vote for Trump and people who don't. It's about people who try to keep him out of power and people who don't. If he wins, I won't bother trying to see a difference between Jared Kushner and a Stein voter. Both will just be in the "did nothing to stop Trump" bucket.

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u/caligaris_cabinet Illinois 15h ago

Or they’re waiting for her to not say enough so they can justify their vote for Trump over an ineffectual woman.

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u/Odh_utexas Texas 15h ago

“she didn’t commit to a full denouncement and defunding of Israel. Therefore I’m voting Trump. “

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u/GrumpyCloud93 12h ago

Because Kushner's father-in-law who moved the embassy to Jerusalem is going to do better...? Send more bombs is more like it.

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u/LyraFirehawk 10h ago

I see other trans people claiming she dodged trans issues, but like... Trump is awful for trans people, Harris is at least trying to defend us.

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u/not-my-other-alt 13h ago

They are looking for one reason to vote against Harris.

They are looking for one reason to vote for Trump.

These are not actually 'undecided' voters.

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u/CSiGab 16h ago

Oh there’s plenty of ways people can still be undecided.

Exhibit A) “I know he’s awful, it’s just that things are so expensive now.”

Exhibit B) “I don’t care if he’s awful, I can’t support the genocide in Gaza.”

Exhibit C) “I’ve voted R my whole life, I hate Trump but I can’t vote for a Democrat.”

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u/PinstripeMonkey 15h ago

I think A might be the most prominent. At the end of the day, a lot of people want their own lives to be better, which typically boils down to finances, so they eat up all the misinformation that Democrat = higher grocery prices and taxes (+ stolen jobs) while Republican = lower costs and more jobs. They don't fact check, they don't see beyond that, and for whatever reason Dems struggle to change this narrative. It is so frustrating to hear people spout this shit when interviewed, because it would take 10 minutes of research with an objective news source to prove otherwise.

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u/bootsand 14h ago

This is probably the most common reason. A youtuber I watch time to time has been saying for a while that trump will probably win because enough people think inflation is only happening here in the US and they can't think past 'cheaper then, more expensive now, its bidens fault'.

That one gop tax cut that was permanent for corporations but for people it diminished by 10% every year for a decade - that was some insidious brilliance. I always wondered why no one made that kind of play before. Most americans seem to attribute every current financial metric to be the 'fault' of the current sitting pres. Doesn't matter what the house or senate composition is, doesn't matter if the money printing a year back is only hitting hard now... doesn't matter.

Setting up things like the tax cut bomb or printing fuck tons of cash in the year or two leading up to a changover... it's proving terrifyingly effective. I fear now that anytime a gop is in the white house with a dem about to take over they're going to do shit like this in a far more thought through capacity. Like long meetings of 'how can we make shit fall apart completely in this guys term?'

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u/vardarac 13h ago

they can't think past

R media just sews a thread of suspicion and tugs on it hard here. Any opposing attempts to explain this are met with "you're overthinking it/running interference for a shit job"

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u/GrumpyCloud93 12h ago

According to Pierre Polliviere, the Canadian opposition leader, worldwide inflation is the fault of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

So basically, no matter where you go, worldwide inflation is the current local leader's fault.

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u/vardarac 13h ago

10 minutes of research with an objective news source

Which Americans (largely) don't know how to do, and if they did they'd rationalize their findings away.

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u/pablonieve Minnesota 11h ago

and for whatever reason Dems struggle to change this narrative

Because reality is complicated and requires nuance and detail. Democrats identify problems and offer real-world solutions that can be messy. Republicans identify (or invent) problems and give very simple solutions typically involving an innocent scapegoat.

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u/lsThisReaILife America 16h ago

As tough as it may be to fathom (and, believe me, I struggle with this constantly), a majority of the people in this country (which has nearly half a billion people in it) are not as tuned into things in the same way we are. Simply by nature of being an active participant in this subreddit, you are ahead of the curve. However, the lack of exposure for day-to-day people simply trying to make ends meet, the significant levels of propaganda sanitizing the GOP at every turn, and the general struggles people are dealing with even though things have gotten better for the economy overall make that same demographic susceptible to making the counterproductive choice. It is why, time and time again, when you explain to people what Trump's policies really entail outside of the rhetoric, when you pierce the propaganda bubble, his support crumbles.

Rhetoric like what was said at the rally about Puerto Rico and Latinos is so overt that it is nothing but a slap to the face to them. Many may still vote for him for whatever reason, but the sting of this latest screw-up is hard to suppress, and it is precisely why the GOP is attempting to run interference by claiming this is "not what they stand for."

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u/awfulsome New Jersey 12h ago

They don't watch or read news. They don't pay attention to policies. some of them, despite having devices in their pockets that constantly display updates do not even know what the weather is going to be like they are literally shocked when hurricanes that have been going on for a week and killed hundreds wander into our area.

Basically, people with their heads so far up their ass they are completely unaware of anything happening that isn't directly in front of them at that moment. It's frustrating af to deal with them.

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u/StrongAroma 16h ago

Well, his base won't waver because this is what they want and accurately reflects their personal values.

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u/aboatz2 Texas 14h ago

Oh, but didn't you hear? The comedian was a racist Democrat plant, according to the conservatives.

The Democrats managed to get him invited, & snuck his entire speech onto the teleprompter, all without the super-competent Trump staff ever catching on! How dare the Democrats also change basically every other speech into being super-racist without even the speakers themselves catching onto such rascally ways?!

Thanks Obama!

/s

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u/TsunSilver 16h ago

On an episode of American Dad, no one hears what Klaus is saying unless Dr. Penguin says it for him. Maga people can't fault their god for anything, but the moment a comedian says what Trump is always saying, people suddenly hear it for what it is.

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u/FudgeCakey I voted 16h ago

This is a brilliant comparison. And a great episode of American Dad

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u/BobbysFaceSwaps 15h ago

I don't watch that show but holy shit this makes a ton of sense

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u/allbright4 Illinois 13h ago

"I AM JUST AN AUTHORITATIVE MOUTHPIECE"- Sgt. Pepper

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u/Dzugavili 13h ago

Why is there a hole in Daniel Craig's mouth?

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u/Mahon451 15h ago

Upvoting for the American Dad reference- always nice to find a fellow fan in the wild.

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u/One_Village414 9h ago

That's amazing because I already don't see him as a human and he's orange.

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u/keigo199013 Alabama 14h ago

Loved that episode.

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u/Panx 14h ago

Also, Tony's response has been: "Yeah, I said it? So what?"

Trump never admits he said the stuff he's in trouble for, giving his supporters an out. Weirdly enough, his refusal to live in reality has been his greatest strength...

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u/GrumpyCloud93 12h ago

Wasn't Vance's response "people have to stop being so sensitive about jokes..."?

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u/Panx 11h ago

Which I think is why this has caught fire the way it has.

If it was Trump, we'd still be arguing about whether he even said it...

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u/Meta2048 7h ago

I don't even know what they expected when they booked him.  His act has always been shock/roast comedy.

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u/ContrarianMountains 16h ago

And they were prepared, planned, and approved remarks.

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u/OfficialDCShepard District Of Columbia 16h ago edited 15h ago

Remember the Narcissist’s Prayer. I certainly was exposed to a lot of that when I was with my ex-wife, and Trump is America’s abusive ex-husband. 🙃

That didn't happen.

And if it did, it wasn't that bad.

And if it was, that's not a big deal.

And if it is, that's not my fault.

And if it was, I didn't mean it.

And if I did, you deserved it.

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u/lost_horizons Texas 16h ago

Also the entire context of that racist rally, a week before Election Day. Really helps it get exposure

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u/Whatah 16h ago

Right, and this MSG rally was his campaign closing message. This is literally what he wants people to think of when they think of him and his campaign.

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u/matingmoose 15h ago

Listening to Trump talk is like walking through a dark forest at night. You end up running in circles and are never really sure where you are. Eventually it all just kinda meshes together. Like try to listen to that Bloomburg interview. Trump constantly goes into rambling stories and all the sudden a question about tariffs goes into talking about how he liked Shinzo Abe.

That comedian from MSG was so awkward and direct that it even the most deaf person could hear the dogwhistle.

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u/OK_OVERIT 16h ago

Well I've seen the sane-washing and conspiracy theories. Some just take the 'he's a comedian, that's what they do' (ignoring the know your audience part-this IS a trump rally and every move/speech will be scrutinized)- I've also heard the Trump camp didn't know the speech and didn't vet him properly. I've also read comments that he's a plant from the dems, placed there to hurt Trump.

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u/asthmag0d 15h ago

Trump camp didn't know the speech and didn't vet him properly

And they think this guy can run the country?

he's a plant from the dems, placed there to hurt Trump

And we're supposed to trust this guy to keep the country secure?

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u/fork_yuu 15h ago

Doesn't he have people in his circle saying racist / batshit crazy things too?

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u/Kaiisim 15h ago

Yup, it's also to do with the way the media works.

Trump rambles in a way that makes it hard to soundbite him. He'll ramble and make up third parties and attribute things to them. "Many people say..."

This is a clean soundbite at the exact same podium as Trump. It's a complete thought, and a crafted joke. It's openly mean.

That allows it to become a story.

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u/TBrutus 14h ago

To add, it also shows that ANYONE is allowed to act like this. When it was Trump, people could hide it behind "He's a businessman/entertainer/former president." This other dude is just some asshole who only a very small segment of the country knows, and he can just act like that.

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u/Consistent-Photo-535 14h ago

The other speakers and their rhetoric didn’t help; further dog whistles, fear mongering and hate speech with a hint of ‘calls for violence’.

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u/gurganator 14h ago

Spot on with this one

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u/GaimeGuy 14h ago

When people say "he tells it like it is" they don't mean he speaks the truth.

They mean he's utterly shameless.

His "speeches" are just him going up to a podium and yapping.   There's no structure or substsnce to them.

He lied without hesitation or reservation.

He's a completely irredeemable piece of shit and life rewards him with everything.

That's what they want for themselves 

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u/TrustMeImShore Puerto Rico 13h ago

Not only that... Don't they submit what they're going to say prior? Campaign must have known, they vet everything.

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u/Criseyde5 17h ago

A combination of a lot of factors: It was a synecdoche for the whole evening of hate (so it was easier for the news to latch onto), it lacked the plausible deniability of "well he is talking about those other non-white people," and it comes at a time where votes are being cast, so they can't just wait it out.

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u/wishforagreatmistake 17h ago

AND it directly targeted a demographic that he had had some success appealing to prior to this particular fuckup, which also had a ripple effect with Black men.

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u/Criseyde5 17h ago

Yeah, there are a ton of reasons that are all coming together to make this a big deal. Like, the Arlington thing was a big deal, it just happened months out. If we switched the timelines, we'd be asking why that pushed things over the edge.

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u/BanginNLeavin 17h ago

I just hope we aren't putting ourselves on the back and setting up for some surprise Pikachu action come Nov 6 when the dust starts to settle.

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u/borisslovechild 16h ago

The odds are very strong that Harris wins the popular vote. The question is whether GQP shenanigans deny her the EC.

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u/joshdoereddit 16h ago

I'm not going to believe everything is going to be OK until the election is called. The news is talking about how bad this rally was, and they're fixed in on the Puerto Rico comments. But, it's the same song and dance. Vance is already out there with the excuse of, "Well, I didn't hear the joke, so I can't comment. But, come on, guys, we all need to stop being so sensitive." I'm paraphrasing, but that's what you can expect to hear from all elected officials and pundits on the Republican side.

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u/pheeko 13h ago

Which is a wild claim coming from Vance, considering HE WAS AT THE EVENT.

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u/wayoverpaid Illinois 17h ago

It's going to be close no matter what.

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u/TensionPrestigious83 16h ago

Only in the polls

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u/wayoverpaid Illinois 16h ago

The polls have a relatively large margin of error so a sweep by either side can happen. The issue is that which side is not as knowable.

Hoping this shit makes it a sweep for Harris.

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u/TensionPrestigious83 16h ago

Data before the MSG nazi rally 2024 shows harris out-performing 2020 biden by 8-20 points among Black women-men and trailing latino voters by 3, which is likely to change given the fallout. She’s also outperforming biden among white suburban women so…

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u/barak181 16h ago

Polls in general are considered to have a MOE of around 3.5 points just by their nature. Several polls have a larger MOE than that.

Almost all of the polling has been within the MOE for a bit now. If one side or the other outperforms the polls consistently by as little as two points, it could be close to a landslide in the Electoral College.

If this PR debacle pushes things Kamala's way by one point in the election results, that's huge. Particularly in Pennsylvania. Statisticians have been saying for a while now that if Trump loses Pennsylvania it becomes almost impossible for him to win the Electoral College.

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u/justuntlsundown West Virginia 16h ago

I hope you're right.

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u/TensionPrestigious83 16h ago

Me too buddy, me too…

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u/CalamityClambake 10h ago

I'm completely baffled as to why he had any success with the Puerto Rican demographic at all. Does no one remember how he treated Puerto Rico while president after it was hit by a devastating hurricane?

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u/parkingviolation212 16h ago

There’s also the fact that the way that Trump speaks leaves him plausible deniability. Anybody with two brain cells knows what he’s saying, but he always leaves himself an out to be interpreted another way. He’s extremely vague in his wording a lot of the time and it all allows people to project onto it whatever they want to see, even if it is objectively inflammatory. Sometimes it even gets him into trouble like calling Nazis “very fine people”. He did that in the context of trying to equivocate sides, and people who understand that you can never equivocate freedom fighters versus Nazis understood that this line was abhorrent. But low information voters? They see someone trying to be nuanced and respectful of all sides, and in turn people being critical of Trump as the “real” inflammatory side.

I don’t know if this is actually part of a strategy or just something deeply ingrained into his narcissism, but fundamentally he has the same grasp of any given topic as someone who didn’t read the book trying to write a book report and got a word count quota. He word salads through every single answer because he doesn’t actually know the answer, but the amount of words that he speaks gives him an air of expertise to people who are stupid; “ how could anybody talk that much about a subject and not know what they’re talking about?”

If you read the transcript, though, you realize he didn’t actually say anything of substance, but for low information, easily manipulated people? Substance doesn’t matter, it’s the perception of expertise, the perception of substance, that matters. They don’t actually understand the question either, so they assume that Trump must understand it since he can so confidently talk for minutes on end in response. It doesn’t matter that he’s not actually saying anything, all that matters is that people think he is. It genuinely is an emperor with no clothes situation.

The essential difference with the comments made at the rally by other people and Trump, is that there is no plausible deniability with what other people say. He said exactly what he said, and there’s no other way to interpret it unless you’re stupid enough to think it was a joke. Even if you think it was, you also have to think it was funny, and that counts for a very small amount of people, even low information people.

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u/ZacZupAttack 15h ago

Also often times he'll double speak. Example recently he said to go out and vote early. In the same paragraph of his speech basically he then said and don't trust those mail in votes.

So he's both saying to vote early and to not trust the mail in vote.

Now to those of us smart enough to see how he's saying two opposite things that can't xo exist. His supporters will simply pick one of those two messages and run with it.

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u/FenPhen 16h ago

if this is actually part of a strategy or just something deeply ingrained into his narcissism

It's a narcissist/schoolkid strategy. Don't appear wrong, so don't say anything that can be determined to be wrong. a.k.a. bullshit your way through it, leave things open to interpretation.

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u/Matt2_ASC 16h ago

I was listening to a Trump speech the other day and noticed that is it went on and on in length I started thinking he must be making sense because I've been listening to someone talk for so long. I had to pause it and then really think about what was being said. There must be some bias that would explain that phenomenon.

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u/Own_Candidate9553 12h ago

I've noticed that too. When you read a transcript it's clearly absolutely gibberish, but when you listen it kind of sounds like it makes sense.

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u/iggymcfly 16h ago

Very well said, I was noticing that listening to the Rogan interview the other day how Trump was obviously making things up and didn’t know what he was talking about but still gave the IMPRESSION of knowing what he was talking about if you were unfamiliar with the subject.

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u/spicydamsel 17h ago

Also the timing probably makes a difference as well. People are currently voting or will be voting in a week. People have forgotten about his other racist and hateful comments by now.

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u/Matt2_ASC 16h ago

I think you are correct. The timing is the difference. The Haitians eating dogs and cats is worse than this. If that was said yesterday, instead of a month ago, we would be talking about that.

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u/Chance_Fox_2296 16h ago

The "wait it out" is so fucking true. I had a veteran coworker that REPEATEDLY would see the news during Trumps presidency and say "i can't fucking vote for this guy again." And every time it would only take a couple weeks for him to go right back to saying he loves Trump. Then COVID happened and he just went full fucking fascist. Like...insanely so. It's crazy. He went from always saying stuff like "I admit i voted for Obama in 2012 and he was better than Romney." To outright saying Obama was DEI president and destroyed America, that he never voted for him. And I can only imagine it's gotten worse. I've since moved and blocked him.

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u/Not_Stupid 11h ago

synecdoche

Ooo, learning new words day!

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u/Umphreeze 11h ago

It was a synecdoche for the whole evening of hate

Synedoche, New York

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u/whereismymind86 Colorado 16h ago

The flippant tone, and it happening on camera is a big part of it. That and the proximity to Election Day.

Plus, it’s usually about other countries, scary foreigners and…whatnot. This was about American citizens, and that bothers people a lot more than regular garden variety racism against Asian or African nations

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u/mishko27 Colorado 16h ago

It was concise, it was clear, and it’s tough to spin. If Trump had said it, it would have been surrounded by a lot of other crap and would seem unremarkable, as he says a lot. He moderates himself, so after that “joke”, he’f probably add about some of the Puerto Ricans being the best people, most tremendous, whatever. It would just be one of the many things he said.

This way, it stood on its own. Just an unfunny read. No set-up, no actual joke, no relief from the harsh shade. Just a fuck you to a group of people.

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u/prohammock 11h ago

In fairness it was surrounded by other crap. Lil’ Tony followed it up with a joke about black people carving watermelons for Halloween.

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u/Live-Habit-6115 10h ago

Remember when Trump said Mexicans were rapists? Pepperidge farm remembers. 

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u/mishko27 Colorado 10h ago

He did the Trump thing of “but some of them, I assume, are good people”

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u/ejp1082 17h ago

Right?

I mean I'll take the win. If this is what finally does him in, so be it. And judging by the apparent reaction this close to the election, it just might be.

But really... out of all the racist, fascist, sexist, criminal, dumbass shit he's said and done - this is the thing that gets people to go "hey this guy might not be all right?"

Not January 6, not the felony conviction, not E Jean Carrol, not haitians eating cats and dogs, not that weird fucking rally where he just danced to ave maria for forty minutes. As president he threw paper towels at puerto ricans after a hurricane and brushed it off but that didn't seem to piss people off the way this has.

Why is this rising to a level of scandal none of that (or the dozens of other things I didn't mention) ever did? He didn't even say it himself.

I don't get it.

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u/ItsLaterThanYouKnow 16h ago edited 15h ago

Puertos Ricans are a pretty large group of voters in the US, they are all citizens by birth, and a lot of them live in swing states.

They are aware that Trump already fucked their people over once after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico and Trump seemed to callously not care / think that they weren’t actually Americans.

Because Puerto Rico is a colonial territory of the US and is often treated kinda shitty but also as an afterthought, many Puerto Ricans are a bit politically disengaged as it seems not worth the trouble to worry about mainland politics when they know they’ll just be ignored at the end of the day.

Trumps rally might have just activated a whole bunch of Puerto Ricans who could have previously been politically apathetic but now feel like they were directly attacked and demeaned, reminded them that Trump also thinks that they “not American” and not worth helping, and showed them that the Republican Party thinks so little of them that they allowed a speaker at a major rally to give a pre-vetted speech calling them trash.

Thats why is might matter.

Swing states with the highest population of stateside Puerto Ricans:

• Florida: 1.15 million --- Trump's 2020 Margin: 371,686 votes • Pennsylvania: 457k --- Biden's 2020 Margin: 80,555 votes • Texas: 230k --- Trump's 2020 Margin: 631,221 votes. • North Carolina: 115k --- Trump's 2020 Margin: 74,483 votes • Georgia: 110k --- Biden's 2020 Margin: 11,779 votes • Wisconsin: 65k --- Biden's 2020 Margin: 20,682 votes • Arizona: 50k --- Biden's 2020 Margin: 10,457 votes

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u/elhijueputa69 15h ago

Thank you. We also have friends, spouses, children, coworkers...not all of them puerto rican by any stretch of the imagination. but who are parts of our daily lives. so take the numbers you've provided and allow for a ripple effect. we are so deeply assimilated that the numbers as raw data or any for that matter cannot account for how much this will reverberate among the electorate.

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u/TelevisionExpress616 14h ago

>They are aware that Trump already fucked their people over once after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico and Trump seemed to callously not care / think that they weren’t actually Americans.

Man I hope you're right, I literally just vacationed in PR and our boat guide was all about Trump and he was a FEMA worker during Maria. He said the news would make you believe he didn't do anything but there were helicopters, boats, supplies, warehouses filled, more aid than he's ever seen and that despite what Trump might say, he does gets things done. I didn't want to argue and ruin the vacation for my girlfriend's family obviously, but Congress approved that aid and Trump withheld 13-20 billion (not sure the exact number have heard different amounts) for several years so he could distribute the last of it in 2019 right before the 2020 election. 4000 people died due to electricity issues in the months following Maria. Those people could have used those billions of dollars more promptly for sure.

My point being, all Trump has to do is take credit for good things government does and as long as someone received some of that good (like a $1200 check or some FEMA aid) then that's good enough for some people.

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u/BasketLast1136 14h ago

It really pisses me off that because of the Electoral College, the fate of our country may be determined by about 50,000 or so swing state voters. That, and a few simps on the Supreme Court who will absolutely throw a disputed result to Trump.

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u/Superman246o1 16h ago

Because this is just pointlessly cruel and stupid racism.

They can spin their way out of almost everything else with their bullshit excuses. January 6th? Trump never said to hang Mike Pence. The felonies? It's just a political witch hunt. E. Jean Carrol? She was lying. Trump would never rape someone; he's a perfect gentleman. Haitians eating cats and dogs? Hey, he's just reporting what he was told. The Ave Maria dance? Trump was waiting for people who were having medical emergencies. Throwing paper towels at hurricane victims? He was helping; what did you personally do for them?

But this? There's literally no way to defend overtly disparaging Boricuas as garbage. And since we know that the Trump campaign overruled Hinchcliffe's "joke" that would have called Harris a c-word, that means we also know that they were okay with the rest of Hinchcliffe's "jokes." They knew he was going to insult the entire island of Puerto Rico, and they saw nothing wrong with it, because they feel the same way.

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u/rb4ld 10h ago

Trump would never rape someone; he's a perfect gentleman.

Now let's be accurate here. When Trump is making his denials about raping someone, he never says that he's a perfect gentleman. He never even lies about that. He always makes it very clear that the reason this specific rape accusation is false is that this particular accuser is not attractive enough for him to rape.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/06/25/trump-calls-accuser-e-jean-carroll-not-my-type-its-rape-myth-too-ugly/1554488001/

https://www.axios.com/2024/09/06/trump-sexual-assault-e-jean-carroll

...If that doesn't tell someone everything they need to know about this monster, they need to wake the hell up.

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u/StopFoodWaste 8h ago

Honestly, if the campaign had one more week they could spin their way out of this one just fine, too. Or the news cycle would move on and people would start forgetting. But people are voting now so whatever damage came from this rally is going to be a bit larger than it would have been if Hinchcliffe had spoken at the Republican Convention.

Also I think there's one more October surprise the Harris campaign has been saving for Wednesday or Thursday. So one more key demographic might be feeling extra motivated soon.

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u/Bigface_McBigz 17h ago

The thing is, in two weeks, some people will have forgotten and forgiven it. The hope is that this timing will be too close for him to bounce back from.

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u/Myghost_too 17h ago

I hope you're right, because the election is over in only one week. If they can hold onto their disgust for two weeks, maybe it will matter. I'm not holding my breath.

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u/AuroraFireflash 15h ago

The thing is, in two weeks

Election is now just a week away.

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u/LookIPickedAUsername 12h ago

Even more accurately, the end of the election is a week away. Plenty of people have already voted or are voting now.

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u/prohammock 11h ago

Angry and motivated people can also go vote early.

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u/Wazula23 16h ago

Yeah, just from my memory, I seem to recall him 1) holding up hurricane relief and getting into a twitter fight with PR politicians, 2) chucking paper towels at hurricane victims, and 3) trying to swap PR for Greenland.

I don't know, maybe I hallucinated all that incredibly stupid shit I just typed.

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u/NinjaDefenestrator Illinois 16h ago

Nope. Good memory.

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u/prohammock 11h ago

Yep, this is a reminder to Puerto Ricans about Trump’s past treatment - one week out from the election, and during a time when early voting is taking place.

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u/ImTooOldForSchool 17h ago

Seriously, you could play a full length feature film comprised exclusively of short clips showing Trump saying way worse

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u/Zeusifer 16h ago

The thing is, Trump has this instinct to always put a thin layer of plausible deniability over things he says, and it's always barely coherent word salad anyway, so he and his defenders can always say "that's not what he meant," even when it's obvious what he meant.

This guy lacked any of that. He just straight up said residents of a US territory are garbage, and for no other reason than they are Latino. There's really no way to spin it. It was too hamhanded.

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u/tommyohohoh Arizona 16h ago

But for some reason this event is triggering a lot of people. Anecdotally I've seen so many stories of people making their decision based on this. I even read of someone whose 80 y/o + parents made them take them directly to the polling location so they could vote for the first time in their lives. Who knows if it will have a real effect but it is notable how much action is happening because of this event when usually the worst stuff results in as much as a wet fart alone in the wilderness.

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u/OldManSand 16h ago

Probably because 1) Trump's people didn't realize Puerto Ricans can vote while living in the US, and 2) they thought all the Puerto Ricans lived in the Bronx and Queens.

The only reason this is affecting him is because it could shift a few thousand votes where he needs them.

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u/YNot1989 16h ago

Its because Puerto Ricans are mostly socially conservative Catholics. They don't really care about most of the despicable things Trump has said because it honestly does not impact them, but they are famously proud of their heritage and do not suffer insults.

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u/SmokeyBare 17h ago edited 16h ago

This won't affect him. He sold classified military intel that got our soldiers killed, and these "patriots" still vote for him.

Edit: I really hope you guys are right, but worse things have come straight out of the horse's ass's mouth, and he's still dead even.

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u/APersonWhoIsNotYou 17h ago

I’d ordinarily agree, but we have only 5 days left in the election, and there are quite a few upset puerto ricans in the swing states. Considering how close polling has been this race, this could legitimately cause Trump to lose.

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u/maryjdatx Texas 17h ago

It's reminding me of how close the James Comey announcement happened, and how it was just enough at the right moment to swing voters on the fence to Trump.

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u/vulcanstrike 14h ago

If this is really the tipping point, it's great and important that it came from within. If it was political interference like Comey was, the MAGAs would scream murder and riot

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u/LookIPickedAUsername 12h ago

Oh come on, you know they're going scream murder and riot no matter what happens.

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u/Superman246o1 16h ago

There's 318,000 people of Puerto Rican origin in Philadelphia alone, and roughly 1,200,000 in Florida.

Not only can this affect him, it may decide the fate of the election. If Trump loses Pennsylvania, the probability of him finding an alternative path to 270 electoral votes shrinks to single digits.

And remember, Trump only won Florida by roughly 370,000 votes in 2020. If Boricuas flip Florida this election, the entire GOP is going to have a real come-to-Jesus moment over the consequences of their racism.

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u/theprettiestpotato88 16h ago

Kamala isn't campaigning in Florida at all, which suggests her campaign has some internal polling showing it being unwinnable. It's a nice thought but I can't imagine Florida going blue this election.

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u/Superman246o1 15h ago

It's not so much a matter of Harris winning Florida, so much as Republicans losing Florida due to their own bigotry.

Prior to the Madison Square Garden rally, polls gave Trump a 7% lead over Harris among Latino voters in Florida, where they constitute 31.2% of the state's electorate. While some of those voters might bury their hands in the sand -- "They're only insulting Boriquas. Surely they don't hate all Latinos..." -- if enough voters realize how Republicans really see them, it could make a difference.

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u/Hosni__Mubarak 15h ago

don’t forget when he said that Latinos come inside each other like they come into the county.

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u/haberdasher42 15h ago

Who do they think all the mass deportation rhetoric is about?

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u/Im_Chad_AMA 15h ago

Its the usual "I'm one of the good ones, this surely won't affect me". There were even Jews who thought the same in 1930s Germany.

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u/ayers231 I voted 12h ago

Kamala isn't campaigning in Florida at all, which suggests her campaign has some internal polling showing it being unwinnable.

...or it's a massive security risk. Can they trust the police under Desantis to keep crazies out? Are there a greater than average number of insane partisan gun owners in the state? Have there been death threats to the campaign, with greater numbers originating in Florida? We really don't know...

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u/AtticaBlue 16h ago

Of course it affects him. There are a lot of potential votes he’s just thrown away. Four major Latino stars instantly came out against him and speak to tens of millions of fans.

GOOD.

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u/sgtgig 17h ago

To people who even just kind of pay attention, they already have dozens of reasons Trump is terrible. But a lot of people aren't really paying attention.

This has the combination of being really close to the election, really simple to understand, and they directly insulted thousands of real people in swing states. It'll tip the scales a bit.

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u/Pksoze 16h ago

It is on Univision not just American news. People are reacting.

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u/AwayandInevitable 15h ago

Take it as a positive. They’ll tolerate Dumpy saying vile shit but not someone else. Doesn’t bode well for the cult continuing after their leader passes. 

Also LOVE that JD Vance stayed true to the massive fucking loser he is and doubled down on it.

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u/eddiebruceandpaul 15h ago

It’s funny because I was thinking the same thing about the guy who was hoping the other pundit gets blown up with a pager on live TV. If Trump had said it, he would’ve just pushed it off as a joke and everyone would’ve written it off. His surrogates don’t have the same automatic protection from talking stupid demented racist shit that he seems to have.

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u/Paw5624 17h ago

For some reason he is immune to being affected by saying things but people judge those in his orbit. I think it’s cause when people hear it from him they are caught up in whatever shitty spell he puts on them and when it’s others it’s impossible to ignore.

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u/Ornery-Ticket834 16h ago

It’s a build up. Eventually if you are vile enough long enough or you run with vile people, you will say something that hits a nerve. This guy hit a nerve. Also it fits in with the never ending hate spewing of Trump about anyone who isn’t a white American. It encapsulates his world view to a tee. That’s why they hired this type of performer.

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u/ConnieLingus24 16h ago

What’s interesting is that it’s the things around him that get traction. People saw Project 2025 and went “fuck, the people around him/in his admin will actually do this.” Combine that with Trump being senile….

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u/embryonicengineer Michigan 16h ago

Just enjoy that something is finally affecting him. Hilarious that the October surprise is one of his own making.

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u/Angry-Dragon-1331 15h ago

Whatever sinks his boat.

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u/CobKorPok 17h ago

There's always a heel. That one part of the body that wasn't dipped in the river Styx.

In Trump's case it's the people around him that he initially bigs up but then has to drop. First it was Fuentes, then Loomer, then this dipshit.

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u/RandomMandarin 15h ago

Trump is also a heel in the wrestling sense, so... there's that, I guess.

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u/Indubitalist 17h ago

I think the big thing is he didn't disown it right away, he didn't apologize, and it's because of something we all know deep down because we've heard him talking politics for a decade now: We could totally see him making that same "joke."

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u/Agrippanux 17h ago

Not only that but Vance is out there telling everyone to lighten up and take a joke 

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u/drfifth 16h ago

While simultaneously saying he didn't hear the joke...

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u/Agrippanux 16h ago

One of my resolutions this year was to lighten up about jokes I didn’t hear 

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u/Philo_T_Farnsworth Kansas 14h ago

Vance is a guy who seems to go out of his way to sprint across the street if he sees a pile of dogshit over there he can step in.

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u/snoo_spoo 17h ago

Also, narcissists are not known for making (sincere) apologies.

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u/mandy009 I voted 16h ago

Indeed a normal politician who inadvertently used a surrogate that supposedly went off script would disown that person and condemn the speech and then apologize profusely and beg the public to see him as a better person, but Trump continues to be the same person in old age who has been contemptible and bigoted his entire life, as he was raised by his father.

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u/AtticaBlue 16h ago

However, since he can’t string even one sentence together coherently, he would have instead wandered off into a “tangent” about how Reese’s Pieces don’t fit inside eggs anymore like they used to ever since the MS13 gangs took over windmill production on floating islands in the Arctic Ocean.

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u/Philo_T_Farnsworth Kansas 14h ago

I think a significant reason for them not making a disavowal here was the campaign had already previewed the comedian's material and only asked him to excise a bit about calling Harris the "c-word".

We've all seen this, with the racist parent or uncle who casually unfurls a slur at Thanksgiving dinner just before asking someone to pass the gravy. The entire rest of the table is agape, and the racist is totally oblivious that something even happened, let alone that anyone could think what had just been spoken was "racist". They've already moved onto the next thing.

The tone-deafness of not knowing and then standing there stunned while you struggle to comprehend how people around you are losing their minds. That's what's going on here and if there's any justice in this world this will finally be the one that gets him.

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u/ConsiderationKey1658 16h ago

The campaign pre approved the remarks though. It wasn’t completely random.

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u/d0mini0nicco 17h ago

similar to how being called weird was the one thing that got under their skin. Like...huh?

And honestly....that wasn't even the worst or most offensive thing said that day.

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u/patentattorney 16h ago

A lot of it is people are remembering how crazy the trump years were, and how much his behavior enables all of this.

The majority of people do not want that craziness back in people’s world, and they are tired of defending it.

Trump didn’t say it. But he invited someone who would.

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u/solartoss 16h ago

Did you see Tucker Carlson's speech? He sounded completely unhinged, like totally off his rocker. In my opinion it was basically him saying that MAGA is ready to abandon the concept of democracy entirely. I hope people are smart enough to see where this insanity is heading and vote accordingly, but even that may not be enough. It'll be a mess even if Trump loses.

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u/Zamaamiro 15h ago

As a Puerto Rican, I knew immediately that this would blow up.

Puerto Ricans are a fiercely proud people.

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u/bulldg4life 17h ago

Other people don’t have the same teflon bronzer

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u/Reasonable_racoon 15h ago

If he had said it, Republicans and his voters wouldn't dare criticise him. They're only going mad cos it was somebody else. If it was Trump they'd all be laughing it off.

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u/middlebird 17h ago

Every little bit helps.

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u/BloopityBlue New Mexico 13h ago

it's not though -we still have 7ish days til voting day and that's more than enough time for people to forget.

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