‘Denial, Deflection, and Disinformation’: Donald Trump Faces Pushback After Passing Blame and Failing to Denounce ‘Racist’ Rally Comedian

Donald Trump and his campaign are continuing to distance themselves from Tony Hinchcliffe’s controversial standup at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally, where his racially offensive routine targeting Puerto Ricans and people of color left Trump’s team scrambling to contain the backlash with just a week until the election. Campaign representatives claim they did not screen comedian Hinchcliffe’s set before he took the stage, while Trump told ABC News he does not know the comedian nor heard any of Hinchcliffe’s remarks. “I don’t know him, someone put him up there. I don’t know who he is,” Trump told ABC. US comedian Tony Hinchcliffe speaks during a campaign rally for former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden in New York on October 27, 2024. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images) The Austin-based comic, whose podcast “Kill Tony” touts 1.8 million Youtube subscribers, set a bigoted tone for the rally as he opened the night with a scurrilous monologue, saying, “There’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now, I think it’s called Puerto Rico.”  As outrage exploded across the country, the Trump campaign swiftly tried to distance itself from...