‘It Was a Klan Rally’: Donald Trump’s Team Tries to Do Damage Control After Comedian’s Watermelon Joke, Disparging Remarks About Puerto Rico Causes a Firestorm 

With only days to go until the election, Donald Trump’s campaign is scrambling to do damage control after comedian Tony Hinchcliffe delivered a racist standup routine at Trump’s weekend rally at Madison Square Garden, during which he called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” among other bigoted remarks aimed at people of color. The Oct. 27 event was marked by inflammatory rhetoric, racial slurs, and troubling threats aimed at immigrants, as well as vicious comments targeting Vice President Kamala Harris, which echoed Trump’s previous attacks on the Democratic nominee. This time, however, much of the vitriolic discourse stemmed not from Trump himself but from his celebrity backers, who spoke off the cuff for more than two hours until Trump arrived. When Trump finally took the stage, the former president’s speech stretched on for 78 minutes, with the crowd noticeably thinning out before he concluded. 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) Also in attendance were Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, Fox News alumnus Tucker Carlson, Vivek...