Both Sides: Why we don't fuck with the GOP
- Thread starter donwuan
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Trump allies make crude, false and racist Harris remarks at NYC rally
The Associated Press | Posted: October 27, 2024 11:25 PM | Last Updated: October 27Campaign later distances Trump from comedian's comments about minorities, Puerto Rico
Image | USA-ELECTION/TRUMP
Caption: A supporter wears a Donald Trump-themed cowboy hat during a rally for the Republican presidential nominee in New York City's Madison Square Garden on Sunday. (Andrew Kelly/Reuters)
Donald Trump hosted a rally featuring crude and racist insults made by allies at New York's Madison Square Garden Sunday.
With just over a week before election day, speakers labelled Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage," called Democratic Vice-President Kamala Harris "the devil," and likened the former California attorney general vying to become the first woman and Black woman president to a prostitute.
"I don't know if you guys know this, but there's literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it's called Puerto Rico," said Tony Hinchcliffe, a stand-up comic whose set also included lewd and racist comments about Latinos, Jews and Black people, all key constituencies in the election just nine days away.
His joke was immediately criticized by Harris's campaign as it competes with Trump to win over Puerto Rican communities in Pennsylvania and other swing states. Puerto Rican music superstar Bad Bunny endorsed Harris shortly after Hinchcliffe's appearance.
The normally pugnacious Trump campaign took the rare step of distancing itself from Hinchcliffe. "This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign," senior adviser Danielle Alvarez said in a statement.
WATCH | Why Donald Trump's message is resonating with young men:
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But other speakers also made incendiary comments.
Trump's childhood friend David Rem referred to Harris as "the Antichrist" and "the devil"; businessman Grant Cardone told the crowd that Harris "and her pimp handlers will destroy our country"; Rudy Giuliani, a one-time New York City mayor and former personal lawyer to Trump, falsely claimed that Harris was "on the side of the terrorists" in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson called Harris, the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, "a Samoan, Malaysian, low-IQ former California prosecutor."
The event was a surreal spectacle that included former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, TV psychologist Dr. Phil McGraw, politicians including House Speaker Mike Johnson and Reps. Byron Donalds and Elise Stefanik, and an artist who painted a picture of Trump hugging the Empire State Building.
Hogan, returning to the venue where he performed years ago as a professional wrestler, seemed to reprise his character, emerging wearing a giant red, orange and yellow boa and violently waving a large American flag as he posed and danced. He spat on the stage during his speech, flexed his muscles repeatedly and told the audience: "Trump is the only man that can fix this country today."
Image | USA-ELECTION/TRUMP
Caption: Hulk Hogan tears his shirt during a Trump rally in New York City on Sunday. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)
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And that was all before Trump was to take the stage, running more than two hours late.
After being introduced by his wife, Melania Trump, in a rare public appearance, the former president began by asking the same questions he's asked at the start of every recent rally: "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" The crowd responded with a resounding "No!"
"This election is a choice between whether we'll have four more years of gross incompetence and failure, or whether we'll begin the greatest years in the history of our country," he said.
WATCH | Trump holds rally in NYC, Harris campaigns in Philadelphia:
Media Video | The National : Trump holds rally in NYC, Harris campaigns in Philadelphia
Caption: With nine days until the U.S. election, Donald Trump was in his hometown of New York for a rally at Madison Square Garden, and Kamala Harris campaigned in Philadelphia.
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Trump on Sunday added a new proposal to his list of tax cuts aimed at winning over older adults and blue-collar workers, which already includes vows to end taxes on Social Security benefits, tips and overtime pay: A tax credit for family caregivers.
This comes after Harris has talked about the "sandwich generation" of adults caring for aging parents while raising their children at the same time. Harris has proposed federal funding to cover home care costs for older Americans.
Trump otherwise repeated familiar lines about foreign policy and immigration at his New York rally on Sunday.
On day one I will launch the largest deportation program in American history," he said. "I will rescue every city and town that has been invaded and conquered."
I don’t really do endorsements.
I’m not shy about sharing my views, but I hate politics and don’t trust most politicians. I also understand that people want to hear from me because I am not just a celebrity, I am a former Republican Governor.
My time as Governor taught me to love policy and ignore politics. I’m proud of the work I did to help clean up our air, create jobs, balance the budget, make the biggest infrastructure investment in state history, and take power from the politicians and give it back to the people when it comes to our redistricting process and our primaries in California.
That’s policy. It requires working with the other side, not insulting them to win your next election, and I know it isn’t sexy to most people, but I love it when I can help make people’s lives better with policies, like I still do through my institute at USC, where we fight for clean air and stripping the power from the politicians who rig the system against the people.
Let me be honest with you: I don’t like either party right now. My Republicans have forgotten the beauty of the free market, driven up deficits, and rejected election results. Democrats aren’t any better at dealing with deficits, and I worry about their local policies hurting our cities with increased crime.
It is probably not a surprise that I hate politics more than ever, which, if you are a normal person who isn’t addicted to this crap, you probably understand.
I want to tune out.
But I can’t.
Because rejecting the results of an election is as un-American as it gets. To someone like me who talks to people all over the world and still knows America is the shining city on a hill, calling America is a trash can for the world is so unpatriotic, it makes me furious.
And I will always be an American before I am a Republican.
That’s why, this week, I am voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.
I’m sharing it with all of you because I think there are a lot of you who feel like I do. You don’t recognize our country. And you are right to be furious.
For decades, we’ve talked about the national debt. For decades, we’ve talked about comprehensive immigration reform that secures the border while fixing our broken immigration system. And Washington does nothing.
The problems just keep rolling, and we all keep getting angrier, because the only people that benefit from problems aren’t you, the people. The only people that benefit from this crap are the politicians who prefer having talking points to win elections to the public service that will make Americans’ lives better.
It is a just game to them. But it is life for my fellow Americans. We should be pissed!
But a candidate who won’t respect your vote unless it is for him, a candidate who will send his followers to storm the Capitol while he watches with a Diet Coke, a candidate who has shown no ability to work to pass any policy besides a tax cut that helped his donors and other rich people like me but helped no one else else, a candidate who thinks Americans who disagree with him are the bigger enemies than China, Russia, or North Korea - that won’t solve our problems.
It will just be four more years of bullshit with no results that makes us angrier and angrier, more divided, and more hateful.
We need to close the door on this chapter of American history, and I know that former President Trump won’t do that. He will divide, he will insult, he will find new ways to be more un-American than he already has been, and we, the people, will get nothing but more anger.
That’s enough reason for me to share my vote with all of you. I want to move forward as a country, and even though I have plenty of disagreements with their platform, I think the only way to do that is with Harris and Walz.
Vote this week. Turn the page and put this junk behind us.
And even if you disagree with me, vote, because that’s what we do as Americans. http://vote.org