By james art On a recent one Trump’s campaign event was held at Madison Square Gardena stage comedian sparked widespread backlash after calling Puerto Rico a “garbage island.”
The remark sparked outrage among Puerto Ricans, including Raymond de Leon Perez, a Reno resident and registered Democrat running for local elections.
“This comedian made these comments this time going straight to the Puerto Ricans, going straight to my island. As a Puerto Rican, I can tell you that I feel terrible, terrible. It made me feel bad for my kids, for my wife, for my family, for my Puerto Ricans,” De Leon said.
De Leon thinks Trump is lying when he says he doesn’t know who the comedian is.
“I think you can tell that to a kid and maybe they’ll believe it. It’s not just someone going there without being investigated,” he said in Spanish.
De Leon, who already voted for Harris, said those comments about the Puerto Rican community made him feel stronger about what he believes in.
“I’m really upset and I can tell you that I’m going door to door to get that vote for Kamala Harris,” De Leon said in Spanish.
Courtesy of Raymond De Leon Perez
National leaders also spoke out against Trump’s deportation plans highlighted at the same event.
During a virtual meeting of Latin American leaders on October 29, Janet Murgia, president of the UnidosUSthe nation’s largest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization, condemned Trump’s immigration plans, including a “Day 1” mass deportation plan.
“We know that Trump’s plans and proposals would tear apart nearly one in three Latino families, affecting not only the undocumented, but also the millions of U.S. citizens who have close ties to them. The disruption of millions of Latin American families and the mass removal of workers will hit sectors from agriculture to health care and cause ripple effects in every community in this country, removing millions of workers from key industries,” Murguía said.
Sondra Cosgrove, professor of history at the College of Southern Nevada and executive director of the Vote for Nevada, expressed concern that the negative tone of current campaigns is alienating voters, especially non-partisan ones.
“With nonpartisan voters, I’ve heard from them over the last four years that they feel like both parties hate them, that if they don’t want to join the party, they just don’t exist,” Cosgrove said.
As for the attacks, Cosgrove isn’t sure that this strategy benefits either side, but there is one thing she is sure of. “This is for entertainment purposes only. It just attracts attention. It makes them on TV against them in the news, there’s a lot of money in our politics right now. So the more outrageous the things, the more unusual, the more unpleasant the things they say he gets, the more attention he gets,” Cosgrove said.
The incident underscores ongoing tensions as the campaign season heats up with just five days until Election Day.