Protesters gather near the site of former President Donald Trump’s rally in Allentown Oct. 29, 2024. (Photo by John Cole/Pennsylvania Capital Star)
ALLENTOWN, PA — Former President Donald Trump returned to the biggest battleground state Tuesday for an evening rally in Pennsylvania’s largest city with a majority Latino population. The visit comes just days after a comedian at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally made racist comments about Puerto Rico, which have been widely condemned across the political spectrum.
While Trump touched on many of his usual talking points, from criticizing Harris on the economy and border and insulting her intelligence, he also appeared to have another goal: appeal to Latino voters amid the growing controversy.
“I’m so proud that we’re getting support from Latinos like never before,” Trump said. “We’re setting every record. Hispanics, Latinos, nobody loves our Latino community and our Puerto Rican community more than I do. Nobody.”
He claimed that “no one” has done more for Puerto Rico than him and promised to deliver “the best future for Puerto Ricans and for Hispanic Americans.”
Trump said he “may” get 50% support among Latinos, which would be a significant number for a Republican presidential candidate. Polling shows that Trump has made improvements with Latino voters nationwide, although still trails Harris among that demographic.
Several speakers during the pre-programming did not reference comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s description of Puerto Rico as an “island of garbage,” specifically, but tried to make the case that Trump cares about Puerto Ricans, with some delivering parts of their speeches in Spanish.
“I’m a Puerto Rican man and I’d like to start by expressing my love for the island of Puerto Rico,” Tim Ramos, a local business leader and former GOP candidate for mayor in Allentown, said near the beginning of the rally. “We have a proud heritage, a heritage that has seen our men fight in every war this nation has ever waged.”
“We are a beautiful people from a beautiful island,” he added. “From our flag to our beaches, to our salsa music. We encapsulate what true beauty is.”
Ramos said that Trump “understands that and sees that in us.”
“Donald Trump is not only the right choice for the Puerto Rican people, he’s the right choice for all of America,” Ramos said.
Zoraida Buxó, Puerto Rico’s Republican Shadow Senator, also took the stage in Allentown on Tuesday evening.
“We are part of a Hispanic American force of 65 million,” Buxó said. “We Hispanics are part of the soul of this country.”
“We have made a difference and we will again make a difference in this coming election to bring about much needed change,” she added. “With everything that is going on or will happen during the final stretch, it is easy to get distracted or misled by propaganda, emotional manipulation and distortion of the truth and facts.”
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) delivered the longest address by any of the speakers who opened up for Trump on Tuesday.
He attempted to flip the script on the Harris campaign by claiming that the Harris campaign’s closing message was the “nastiest, ugliest, most dangerously destructive messaging in a campaign close in modern American history.”
Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk told the Capital-Star prior to the rally on Tuesday that people are angered by what was said during the rally at Madison Square Garden.
“I think it will make enough of a difference to matter,” he said. “We know Pennsylvania is so tight, right, it could be the tiniest margin and this might be just the thing that pushes it over the edge.”
Ahead of the Trump rally, Make the Road Action PA, which describes itself as “largest Latinx organization in the state,” held a protest rally a block away from the PPL Center.
Maegan Llerena, executive director of the organization, said that that she thinks everything was vetted by the campaign before the rally, meaning Trump has to take responsibility for Hinchcliffe’s comments.
“So to say that he didn’t approve of this or that his people that work for him didn’t approve of this, which he himself has to vet, is naive,” she told the Capital-Star.
Trump also criticized former First Lady Michelle Obama for her recent speech slamming him, saying it “was a mistake” for her to do so. She is scheduled to campaign in Pennsylvania for the Harris-Walz ticket on Saturday.
Trump’s Tuesday began with a morning press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, and then a roundtable discussion on senior issues with Pennsylvania supporters at a banquet hall in the Drexel Hill section of Upper Darby Township in Philadelphia’s Delaware County suburbs.
Among the panelists were Maribel Cruz, an occupational therapist who moved to the mainland U.S. from Puerto Rico as a teenager. She did not mention the furor surrounding Hinchcliffe’s comments at Trump’s rally but expressed support for Trump on behalf of Puerto Rico.
“I want you to know that Puerto Rico stands behind you,” Cruz said.
Trump thanked Cruz and recalled his administration’s response to Hurricane Maria in 2017, which caused widespread damage and long-term power outages that resulted in thousands of deaths across the island in the months that followed.
“You remember you were there when I brought the hospital ship, against everyone’s advice, and we got it in there, and took care of a lot of people, but I think no president’s done more for Puerto Rico than I have,” Trump said.
The DNC planned billboard ads near Pennsylvania’s Puerto Rican communities referencing the “island of garbage” quote. The billboards will be placed on highways near Allentown, Reading and Philadelphia, which have significant Puerto Rican populations.
Data from the 2020 U.S. Census shows Lehigh County, which is home to Allentown, has the largest percentage of Hispanic residents in the state, with 25.9%, followed closely by Berks County with 23.2%.
Both candidates seeking to represent the 7th Congressional District, where Allentown is located have denounced the racist “jokes” about Puerto Rico from Trump’s rally.
“I am incredibly proud to represent a diverse constituency, including a vibrant Puerto Rican population that is an important part of this community,” Democratic U.S. Rep. Susan Wild said in a statement. “Our Puerto Rican community represents some of the best of what America has: loving, smart people who have contributed so much to my community, and the United States as a whole, many of whom serve in our military and defend our country.”
“This is reprehensible, dangerous, hateful rhetoric that I condemn and every politician should condemn,” she added.
“The comments made by this so-called ‘comedian’ at Madison Square Garden weren’t funny, they were offensive and wrong,” state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, the Republican candidate attempting to unseat Wild, told POLITICO.
According to a 2019 report from the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, just under 500,000 Puerto Ricans live in Pennsylvania, making it the state with the third largest concentration in the nation. Philadelphia has the second-largest stateside Puerto Rican population among U.S. cities, while Allentown is eighth, according to the 2020 Census.
Pennsylvania is the most important of seven swing states in next week’s election, with 19 electoral votes.
This story was originally published in Pennsylvania Capital-Star, which like Nevada Current is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.