Candido Albino, Latino Pastor of the Hickory Road Methodist Church in Charlotte, recalls first hearing the smears directed at his homeland of Puerto Rico by a Donald Trump surrogate Sunday night.
“What I heard was ignorant and painful,” said Pastor Albino, 62.
Addressing a Trump rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City, insult comic Tony Hinchcliffe referred to a “floating island of garbage” in the ocean. “I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” he quipped. He also made crude remarks about what he claimed were Latino sexual habits and how they result in large numbers of babies.
Hinchcliffe was supposed to be warming up the crowd, but he did more to light a fire under Puerto Ricans and other Latinos. Puerto Rican celebrities with millions of followers — Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony — promptly endorsed Trump’s Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. Reggaeton star Nicky Jam, who had endorsed Trump, withdrew his support. While Trump’s campaign issued a statement distancing itself from Hinchcliffe’s comments, Trump, who spoke later in the evening, did not and has not denounced Hinchcliffe’s insults.
Will this unforced error, this 2024 version of “the October surprise,” affect the outcome of what appears to be super tight presidential race in North Carolina? Who knows? What we do know is Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory and Puerto Ricans living in the U.S. are eligible to vote. According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, some 900,000 people of Puerto Rican descent live in seven swing states, including 133,000 in North Carolina.
And the insults have certainly ticked them off, not a smart thing to do nine days before a close election.
“When somebody insults your country that inhumane way, it’s as if he is insulting your own mother,” Pastor Albino said. “I think some who were undecided or leaning towards Trump will reject him and vote for Harris. Some who might not have voted will show up and do the same.”
Esther Ramirez-Pevney, 58, co-owner of E&A Productions, an event promotions firm based in Charlotte, agrees Trump will pay a price. She says even among the Puerto Ricans in the more conservative Raleigh and Fayetteville areas, she expects the insults will turn some voters against Trump.
“We Puerto Ricans have our political differences, but when it comes to supporting and defending the island we come together,” she said.
She points to 2017’s Hurricane Maria, which caused catastrophic damage and some 3,000 deaths in Puerto Rico, and led more than 5 million Puerto Ricans living across the U.S. to mount a massive relief effort. That was particularly necessary because the Trump administration understated the death toll, downplayed the destruction and blocked Congressionally-approved federal aid to the island.
According to Miles Taylor, a top Homeland Security official who accompanied Trump to Puerto Rico the month after the hurricane, Trump referred to Puerto Rico as “dirty” and “poor” and suggested the U.S. swap it for Greenland. Trump’s animus toward Puerto Ricans wasn’t new. In 1973 the Justice Department sued the family real estate firm for systematically discriminating against Black and Puerto Rican would-be renters in New York City. The Trumps were forced to sign a consent decree to end the practice.
The question is: Will Puerto Rican voters, including about 100,000 registered in North Carolina, make Trump pay a price this year for that long history of insults?
Retired U.S. Army Sergeant Felix Lopez, 68, of Salisbury, definitely hopes so. Lopez served for 13 years, including in Panama and Korea, before health issues ended his career. His father served in both WW II and the Korean War and other relatives also served. Puerto Rico have always sent disproportionately high numbers of its citizens into the U.S. military. Nine Puerto Ricans have won the Congressional Medal of Honor, some of whom were killed in action. Many other Puerto Ricans have died for their country as well.
Lopez cites Army General John Kelly, who later served as Trump’s White House chief of staff. Kelly says Trump once told him he considered people who died for their country to be “losers” and “suckers.”
“And now this so-called comedian trashes Puerto Rico,” Lopez says. “He trashes the service of those brave soldiers, the battles they fought, and the suffering of their families. Trump gave him that platform to speak from. Should Trump ever be commander in chief again? No. Never.”