By james art 
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On Sunday, former President Donald Trump held a rally at the iconic Madison Square Garden in New York that was meant to serve as a show of strength and support in his hometown.
What happened instead was a barrage of inflammatory comments, building on months of racist and sexist attacks and online misinformation that Trump and his biggest allies have lobbied against his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris, who is black and Indian-American, would be the first female president if elected.
Then came a TV ad calling Harris the “c-word,” paid for by a super PAC created by businessman Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, who threw his resources and influence into Trump’s election. The “s-word” refers to “communist”, but with a clear hint of a gendered slur.
Harris has not highlighted their identities in her campaign and has rarely engaged directly with the attacks framed around them. But former first lady Michelle Obama specifically called out the unfair expectations and double standards she says Harris faces as she rallied for her in Kalamazoo, Michigan, over the weekend.
“But for Trump, we expect absolutely nothing, no understanding of politics, no ability to make a coherent argument, no honesty, no integrity, no morality,” Obama said. “Instead, too many people are willing to write off his childish, mean-spirited antics by saying that Trump is just being Trump, instead of questioning his terrible behavior.”
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Harris called Trump’s rally in New York “absolutely something that is aimed at and kindles the fuel of division in the country.”
“That’s why people are tired of it,” she said, according to pool reports. “People are literally ready to turn the page.”
Here is a non-exhaustive list of recent sexist and racist attacks by Trump allies at Sunday’s rally:
- Former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson used racist and sexist rhetoric to fuel baseless claims of election fraud and cast doubt on Harris’ potential victory at the Madison Square Garden rally. “It’s going to be pretty hard for them to look at us and say, Kamala Harris, she got 85 million votes because she’s so impressive,” Carlson said. “The first low-IQ former California prosecutor from Samoa, Malaysia to ever be elected president, it was just a wave of public support.”
- Radio host Sid Rosenberg called 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, whom Trump continues to call a “sick bastard” and “sick son of a bitch” at his rallies, and the Democratic Party a “bunch of degenerates.”
- David RehmTrump’s “childhood friend” with a checkered past, called Harris the “Antichrist” and the “devil” before brandishing a crucifix.
- Businessman Grant Cardone said Harris was “a fake, a fraud and a pretender”, adding: “She and her pimps will destroy our country.”
- Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe made a number of racist and misogynistic comments directed at blacks, Arab-Americans, Jews, and Latinos. He called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” and said of Puerto Ricans who are American citizens: “These Latin Americans also like to make babies. Just know this. They do it. They do it. There is no withdrawal. They don’t. They go inside. Just like they did to our country.”
The Trump campaign sharply distanced itself from Hinchcliffe’s comments on Puerto Rico, which came as the Harris campaign made a concerted pitch to Puerto Rican voters in swing states like Pennsylvania. After the rally, major celebrities including Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin and Luis Fonsi took to social media to share Harris’ plan for Puerto Rico and condemn Hinchcliffe’s insults. In response to the condemnation from Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Waltz, Hinchcliffe tweeted: “I’m a comedian Tim…maybe it’s time to change your tampon.”
The remarks on the MSG stage build on months of similar sexualized and gendered attacks on Harris:
- Republican candidate for vice president JD Vance has smeared Democratic politicians, including Harris, as “childless cat ladies” in the past. Vance recently said on comedian Tim Dillon’s podcast that Harris has a “very sly laugh” and said of her, “There’s too much of a schoolgirl thing going on.”
- At the end of August Fox News anchor Jesse Waters said on air that Harris “will be paralyzed in the Situation Room while the generals have their way with her.” The remark, which Waters later denied he meant “of a sexual nature,” drew immediate pushback from fellow Fox News host Jeanine Pirro.
- Trump has long posted sexually suggestive and derogatory content about Harris and Clinton on Truth Social, his social media platform. He also falsely claimed that Harris, whose father is Jamaican, had only recently begun to identify as black.
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