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CT Dems try to contain anger over Puerto Rico ‘trash’ comment

Harry October 31, 2024

Political candidates across the country are busy delivering their final messages to voters this week, and on Wednesday morning a large group of Connecticut Democratic officials allowed former President Donald Trump’s campaign to make the argument on their behalf.

Statewide elected officials, several members of Connecticut’s Congressional delegation and leaders of the state legislature’s Black and Puerto Rican Caucus gathered in Bridgeport’s east end to call attention to derogatory comments about Puerto Rico made at Trump’s rally in New York City. last weekend.

“I don’t know if you know this, but there’s an island of garbage floating in the middle of the ocean right now,” said comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who was invited to speak at Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden. . “I think it’s called Puerto Rico.”

That comment, as well as others focusing on Hispanics, African Americans, Jews and Palestinians, quickly sparked a backlash, prompting Trump’s campaign to issue a statement attempting to distance the presidential candidate from the comedian.

This also led several Republican candidates in states with significant Puerto Rican populations to condemn the remarks, including George Logan, who is challenging Democratic incumbent Jahana Hayes in Connecticut’s 5th Congressional District.

“Unfortunately, we continue to encounter racist, derogatory comments across the political spectrum, and they need to be called out and shut down,” Logan said in a statement, not citing any other examples other than Trump’s rally, which also targeted Puerto Rico. such statements.

Connecticut Democrats are taking advantage of the derogatory reference to Puerto Rico in the final days before the election to further expand their electoral advantage in the state, which has the largest population of Puerto Ricans per capita anywhere in the country outside the island territory. .

Many of Connecticut’s largest cities, including Hartford, Waterbury, New Britain, New Haven and Bridgeport, are home to tens of thousands of people of Puerto Rican descent and connections to the island.

Speaking at a high-profile headquarters in Bridgeport on Wednesday, Democratic political figures encouraged Puerto Rican residents of the state to take the remarks from Trump’s rally seriously.

Sen. Jorge Cabrera (D-Hamdan), whose father moved to Bridgeport from Puerto Rico in the 1960s, said voters shouldn’t dismiss the remarks as just a joke.

“That’s what this guy is and the people around him,” Cabrera said of Trump and his campaign. “Let’s believe it. So let’s do something about it.”

US Senator Chris MurphyD-Link and U.S. Representative Jim HimesBoth are D-4th running for re-election this year. The District shared similar sentiments, arguing that the remarks about Puerto Rico were evidence that Trump and his campaign do not view Puerto Ricans as full U.S. citizens.

“Let me tell you what it is, because I see it every day from Lauren Boebert, from Marjorie Taylor Greene, from Paul Gosar,” Himes said, naming several of his Republican colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives. “If you don’t look like Donald Trump or Donald Trump Jr., you are not a full-fledged American and you are not entitled to the full privileges and respect of an American. This is what happened.”

“On some level, I’m glad they told us what they thought,” Murphy added. “So it’s hard to hear, but at least they’re not hiding their agenda. “At least they’re not hiding what they think of our Puerto Rican communities.”

Other speakers at the Democratic news conference included Bridgeport city council president Aidee Nieves and state Reps. Christopher Rosario, D-Bridgeport; Antonio Felipe, D-Bridgeport; and Juan Candelaria, D-New Haven, highlighted the contributions Puerto Ricans have made to the country, including serving in multiple wars in the U.S. Armed Forces.

And they noted that some people serving at the highest levels of the federal government, including U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and President Joe Biden, are of Puerto Rican descent. education secretary Miguel Cardona.

“The Puerto Rican community has made a significant contribution to the progress of the United States,” Nieves said.

Ben Proto, chairman of the Connecticut Republican Party, dismissed the comments about Puerto Rico and instead pointed to comments Democratic leaders made about Trump’s supporters; This includes this statement from President Joe Biden this week: “One piece of garbage. I see his supporter floating there.”

The White House later said Biden was specifically talking about comedian Hinchcliffe, but the comment was used by Republicans to claim Democrats were disparaging every Trump supporter.

“Are these the same members of the Democratic Party that the president called half the country trash or Hillary Clinton called deplorable?” Proto asked. he said.

Proto also accused the Democratic Party of encouraging two assassination attempts that have targeted Trump this year.

“It is the Democrats who spew hatred and caused two assassination attempts,” Proto said.

Murphy’s Republican opponent, Matt Corey, called the Democrats’ press conference a “contrived outrage.” And in a press release, he accused Democrats of not helping the Puerto Rican community in Connecticut.

“The bad joke here is the Democratic Party’s indifference to the Puerto Rican community. “They ignored this community for decades, but suddenly they decided to turn up the anger ahead of the election,” Corey, who was at the Trump rally at Madison Square Garden, said.

It’s unclear how the highly publicized statements about Puerto Rico will affect this year’s elections, especially since so many people have already voted by absentee ballot or in person through early voting.

Rep. Geraldo Reyes Jr., D-Waterbury, believes much of the Puerto Rican community had already decided how they would vote before Trump’s rally last weekend.

But Reyes believes the words spoken at the Trump event could be a galvanizing force for some voters who are undecided or unmotivated to vote.

Reyes hopes additional turnout in cities like Waterbury and Philadelphia, which have significant Puerto Rican populations, will lead to victories for Democratic congressional candidates and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Proto, the Republican chairman, said he doesn’t believe Connecticut voters will vote based on a single comment from a rally.

“I think the population and the voters are much smarter than the politicians,” Proto said.

“I think at the end of the day, they’re voting in their own self-interest, and it’s definitely the Democrats who are doing that, not Kamala Harris and Tim Walz,” Proto added.

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CT Dems try to contain anger over Puerto Rico ‘trash’ comment

Harry

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CT Dems try to contain anger over Puerto Rico ‘trash’ comment

Harry

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