Racist, bigoted Trump rally at Madison Square Garden ignites backlash in Milwaukee, across U.S.

Even by the beyond-the-pale standards of this election season's rhetoric, Sunday's rally for Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden set a new low.

The rally seemed to crystallize the former president's assertion that America is "like a garbage can for the world" because of migrants and the Democratic leaders — the "enemy from within" — that accept them.

The messages almost immediately drew widespread rejection, notably from Latino — specifically Puerto Rican — communities in swing states like Wisconsin.

"Yesterday’s Trump rally at Madison Square Garden echoed the dangerous rhetoric of the infamous 1939 Nazi rally held at the same venue," said Voces de la Frontera, a Milwaukee-based immigration rights group, in a statement. "The event was filled with racist and offensive remarks."

Among the barrage of statements made at the rally:

• Puerto Rico is a "floating pile of garbage."

• Latinos keep making babies because "there's no pulling out," just like they come into our country and never leave. (The actual line was an even cruder sexual reference.)

• Our country was built on hard work, not diversity-equity-inclusion efforts.

• "America is for Americans and Americans only."

• Vice President Kamala Harris is a "Samoan, Malaysian, low-IQ former California prosecutor." (Her mother was born in India; her father was born in Jamaica.)

• Harris is "the antichrist" and "the devil."

• Harris has imported criminal migrants from "prisons and jails, insane asylums and mental institutions from all around the world, from Venezuela to the Congo.”

The sources of those comments were raunchy comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, TV personality Dr. Phil, Trump advisor Stephen Miller, Fox personality and Trump-whisperer Sean Hannity, longtime Trump friend David Rem, and Trump himself.

Some observers saw the event as just the latest in a campaign filled with hateful comments. Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of Voces de la Frontera and a national leader on immigration reform, called it "a distraction" intended to create more fear of Latinos and immigrants in the U.S.

Others said they were shocked, especially by Hinchcliffe's line about Puerto Rico, which even the Trump campaign tried to disavow. Prominent Puerto Rican artists, including Grammy-winning artists Bad Bunny and Ricky Martin, condemned the Trump rally remarks, as did many political officials who are Latino or have Latino constituencies.

Closer to home, Awilda Bosque reacted with emotion after learning from her husband and daughter that her homeland had been mocked.

"That's not a joke," she said. "Puerto Rico is a beautiful island."

Bosque has lived in Milwaukee 20 years, she said, but grew up in Puerto Rico and returns frequently. The 53-year-old custodial worker said her entire family is voting against Trump.

Although voters living in Puerto Rico and the other U.S. territories are not allowed to vote in the presidential election, Bosque framed the election choice in a larger context.

“Trump’s hate is not just directed against us,” Bosque said. “It’s also directed at our other brothers and sisters who are Latino. I hope Puerto Ricans, who are still undecided, realize he is a racist.”

Brandon Yellowbird-Stevens, a father of four Puerto Rican children, is vice chair of the Oneida Nation. Yellowbird-Stevens added that Puerto Ricans are Indigenous, too, because the Tainos tribe was indigenous to the Carribean, including the island that became Puerto Rico.

"For me, it really speaks to the type of individuals Trump has in his camp ... people with racist undertones," he said, adding that he was speaking for himself, not the tribe. "It really speaks to the nature of how they view Indigenous peoples and people of color."

CK Ledesma Borrero, 37, an interdisciplinary Puerto Rican artist in Milwaukee, echoed that perspective.

“It's the way that the United States Empire has always seen Puerto Rico from its inception,” Borrero said.

Borrero's work intertwines culture, identity and activism against the patriarchy and capitalism, among other social issues. A silver lining, Borrero said, is that more people may learn about the mistreatment of Puerto Rico after Sunday's rally.

“Hopefully, this will make people understand that specific party does not have any kind of interest in representing us,” Borrero said.

Latinos make up an important voting bloc

Trump has referred to immigrants as "poisoning the blood of our country" and promised if he’s re-elected to undertake the “largest mass deportation in our country.”

And yet Republicans are, at the same time, courting the Latino vote.

Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican, voted against bipartisan immigration legislation earlier this year, and accused Biden of wanting to “flood” the U.S. with migrants because “they will eventually vote for Democrats.”

And yet last week, speaking at the Wisconsin GOP Hispanic Community Center on Milwaukee's south side, Johnson said massive deportations are unrealistic. “They’re here, they’re working, they’re playing by the rules, they haven’t committed any crimes and stuff, that’s sort of the next layer (of immigration reform), and we’re going to figure out how to do that,” Johnson said.

Latinos make almost one-in-five people in the United States. Puerto Ricans make up the second-largest Latino group in the United States — behind Mexicans — with roughly 5.8 million people, according to the Pew Research Center. An additional 3.3 million live on the island.

In Wisconsin, Puerto Ricans make up 1.06% of the population, with just over 60,000 people, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data. The overall Latino population in the state approaches a half million people, and increased almost 8% in the last decade. It is the largest of Wisconsin's minority groups.

Forward Latino, a service and advocacy group based in Franklin, issued a statement Monday saying that despite the Trump campaign trying to distance itself from Hinchcliffe's line, Trump's actions while president suggest otherwise.

After Hurricane Maria in 2017, then-President Trump blocked the release of approximately $20 billion in emergency aid that the island was approved to receive. "Because of this," said Forward Latino national president Darryl Morin, "numerous projects were canceled or delayed and the majority of the island was without power for over 10 months, causing the needless loss of additional American lives."

Morin also pointed out that more than a quarter million Puerto Ricans had served in military engagements from World War I through today.

Last night’s comments reminded Hispanic and Latino communities, and all their allies, Morin said, that "American freedoms and benefits do not belong to just those of privilege, but to all Americans.”

Democratic vice presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz, on a campaign stop in Waukesha on Monday, picked up on that theme of unity over division.

“Their closing argument last night was clear to the rest of the world: It’s about hate, it’s about division, it's about dividing us,” Walz said in reference to the rally Sunday at Madison Square Garden. "Kamala Harris is out here making the case, as I am, with all of you, that this is a new way forward, an opportunity to be the president for all Americans."

Cecil Negrón, 71, moved to Milwaukee from Ponce, Puerto Rico, when he was 8 years old. He said he’s tired of Puerto Rico being undervalued.

“We are Americans,” Negrón said.

Negrón, a Caribbean jazz musician, said he is focusing his energy on motivating Puerto Ricans and Latinos to get out and vote. This election season he’s played his conguero at several rallies urging Latinos and minority voters to cast their ballots.

“We are here," he said, "and we are not going anywhere.”

Sophie Carson of the Journal Sentinel staff, and USA Today contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Trump's rally in NYC creates furious reaction because of bigotry, hate