Shortly after his contentious event at Madison Square Garden in New York, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has appealed to the Latino hotspot of Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Trump is still dealing with the aftermath from the New York rally, when a comedian likened Puerto Rico to a floating island of garbage.The event took place Tuesday night.
However, Trump seemed to ignore the controversy when performing in Allentown.
To applause, he remarked, I’m so proud that we’re getting support from Latinos like never before. We’re breaking all the records. Nobody loves our Puerto Rican and Latino communities more than I do, Hispanics and Latinos.
The Republican leader surrounded himself on stage with Latino leaders as if to emphasize the point.
On his behalf, Zoraida Buxó, the Puerto Rican shadow senator, Cuban American Senator Marco Rubio, and local mayoral candidate Tim Ramos spoke at the Allentown event.
Trump, who has survived scandal in the past and has been dubbed “Teflon Don” by some detractors, shown defiance in this act.
However, the Allentown event was also a dangerous move since it put him in the middle of a crowd that would have been deeply hurt by the Madison Square Garden comments.
Allentown is situated in Lehigh County, which is home to the largest Latino community in Pennsylvania, a crucial swing state.
Lehigh County is home to an estimated 96,981 Latinos, out of a total population of 374,557, according to the 2020 census. Over 25% of the population is represented by that.
To protest Trump’s visit to the local PPL Center in Allentown, a few dozen demonstrators gathered outside the building on Tuesday.
In a nod to Trump’s campaign slogan, Make America Great Again, some chanted, Immigrants make America great. Others yelled, Trump, fuera in Spanish, urging Trump to go.
Evit Figueroa, one of the protesters, even displayed a pink poster board with the scrawled words, “Trash day is November 5. Let’s place you in your proper place.
However, other members of the local Latino community still showed up to support Trump by holding placards that read Boricuas con Trump which means “Puerto Ricans for Trump.
Being the fifth most populous state in the US, Pennsylvania has the potential to give the winner of the state a sizable number of Electoral College votes.
In an attempt to win Pennsylvania’s 19 Electoral College votes, Trump has thus run a vigorous campaign there.
However, in the state, he and his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, are essentially tied. According to a poll conducted over the previous week by YouGov and CBS News, both candidates have received 49% of the vote.
Latinos make up almost 9% of the state’s population. Trump tried to adjust his words to his Latino audience by describing a US slump under Harris.
I’ll give Puerto Ricans and Hispanic Americans the best possible future. Trump assured his supporters that Kamala will bring poverty and crime to them.
In contrast, he publicly outlined a scenario in which he gets re-elected, ostensibly for the benefit of Latinos.
I’ll protect your family. I’ll stand up for religion. I will restore factories, money, and jobs. And Puerto Rico itself will be quite appreciative. The entire Latino and Hispanic community will be really grateful, he stated.
Nevertheless, the events in Allentown were overshadowed by the Madison Square Garden gathering.
Trump’s campaign, if not Trump himself, distanced itself from comedian Tony Hinchcliffe after the rally was widely condemned as racist and he referred to Puerto Rico as an island of “garbage.
Senator Rubio, one of the speakers at Tuesday’s rally in Allentown, was previously rumored to be a potential running mate for Trump.
“Puerto Rico isn’t garbage, it’s home to fellow American citizens who have made tremendous contributions to our country, he wrote on social media the day before in support of Trump.
I can see why a comedian’s jokes from last night hurt some individuals. However, Trump did not say those things. They were jokes from a comedian that constantly offends almost everyone.
Buxó, a shadow senator from Puerto Rico, was another speaker at the gathering who made an effort to assist Trump in getting over the Madison Square Garden incident. Because Puerto Rico is not a state and its citizens are not allowed to vote, Buxo only has a symbolic role in the Senate.
Nevertheless, Buxo was popular with the mainland diaspora. Buxo used a Spanish expression that means “Give Trump the force of your vote when he said, “For Latinos, dale a Trump la fuerza de tu voto.
She continued, claiming that Donald J. Trump will make Puerto Rico shine again” and that she “strongly and fully support and endorse him to be our 47th president.
However, even Puerto Rican Republicans felt the wrath. The Republican Party chairman on the island, Angel Cintron, declared that he would not support Trump until he issued an apology.
Rather, Trump has persisted in claiming that Madison Square Garden was filled with nothing but “love.” He has not expressed regret for the comedian’s or any other contentious remarks made during the rally.
On the other hand, Democrats have continuously criticized him for his divisive and anti-immigrant statements.
According to a recent poll conducted by the research firm Ipsos and the news agency Reuters, Trump still lags behind Harris among Hispanic voters overall, despite his advances among Hispanic men.
Trump received 37 percent of the vote in this group, while Harris received 51 percent.