Harris criticizes Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris accused Republican nominee Donald Trump of “stoking the fuel to try to divide our country” after the former president spoke out at a grievance-filled campaign event in New York where several speakers made racist comments statements that set the tone.

“Donald Trump's event at Madison Square Garden really highlighted a point that I've been making throughout the campaign,” Harris said Monday before boarding Air Force Two to fly to Saginaw, Michigan.

“He is focused and actually fixated on his grievances, on himself and on the division of our country, and that is in no way something that is going to strengthen the American family, the American worker,” Harris said.

More: Harris says she will take a cognitive test and calls on Trump to take the same test

Comedian Tony Hinchliffe, one of the speakers at Sunday night's event, called Puerto Rico a “floating garbage island” and joked about a black man in the crowd “carving watermelons.” He joked that Latinos don't use contraceptives.

Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson gave Harris a made-up ethnicity in his remarks, calling her “Samoan-Malaysian” and a “low-IQ former California prosecutor.” In his speech, businessman Grant Cardone said Harris had “pimps.”

In Trump's speech, the former president shouted “send them back” as he discussed illegal migrants and used the phrase “enemy within” to describe his opponents.

More: Trump promises to take action against his enemies if elected. Meet two enforcers willing to carry this out

“When I say the enemy from within is going crazy on the other side,” Trump said. “They have done very bad things to this country, then they are actually the enemy from within.”

Harris Campaign Turns Puerto Rico Insult Into New Advertising

The Puerto Rican insult came on the same day that Harris campaigned at Freddy & Tony's Restaurant, a Puerto Rican restaurant, and announced a political plan aimed at this key Philadelphia constituency. The comment sparked backlash from several well-known Puerto Ricans and brought out Grammy-winning artists Bad Bunny and Ricky Martin.

“By the way, that’s nothing new about him. What he did last night was not discovery,” Harris said. “It's just more of the same and perhaps more lively than usual. Donald Trump spends all his time trying to get Americans to point fingers at each other.”

The Trump campaign tried to distance itself from Hinchliffe's joke. “This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” senior Trump adviser Danielle Alvarez said in a statement.

More: Trump faces backlash from Bad Bunny and Puerto Ricans in fight for Latino vote

But the Harris campaign quickly seized on the Puerto Rican insult, turning a snippet of Hinchliffe's joke into a 30-second television commercial released Monday. Harris has worked to reach Puerto Rican voters, who make up a large voting bloc in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.

Sen. JD Vance, Trump's running mate, downplayed the insult to Puerto Rico, arguing that Harris focusing on it was “not the message of a successful campaign.”

“I didn’t see the joke. Maybe it's a stupid, racist joke. Maybe not,” Vance said while campaigning Monday in Wausau, Wisconsin. “But I think we need to stop being so angry about every little thing in the United States of America. I’m so over it.”

President Joe Biden called the Trump rally at Madison Square Garden “just embarrassing, under any president.”

“But we’re getting used to it,” Biden said before casting his 2024 vote in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware. “That’s why this election is so important.”

Biden added: “You know, most presidential scholars I've spoken to talk about the most important thing about a president: his character. Character. He questions that every time he opens his mouth.”

Reach Joey Garrison on X, formerly Twitter, @joeygarrison.

Harris Campaign Turns Puerto Rico Insult Into New Advertising

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