(NewsNation) — Republican former President Donald Trump, speaking at his Florida Mar-a-Lago resort Tuesday, referred to his rally over the weekend at New York’s Madison Square Garden as a “lovefest” despite criticisms it was racist and insulting.
Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who goes by “Kill Tony,” fielded bipartisan backlash for calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean.”
Trump campaign senior adviser Danielle Alvarez said in a statement Hinchcliffe’s “joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.
Other speakers during the Madison Square Garden rally preshow made comments targeting Latinos, Black people, Jewish people and Palestinians as well as sexist insults targeting Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
On Tuesday in Florida, however, Trump said everyone was happy and excited to be at the New York event and called critics ridiculous for tying it to a 1939 Nazi rally that also took place in Madison Square Garden. Instead, Trump said that for him and his campaign, it was thousands of people looking to be together and talk about how they wanted to change America.
The current odds in every battleground Senate race
Trump’s Mar-a-Lago remarks
Along with defending his earlier rally, Trump at Mar-a-Lago focused on immigration issues, the border and the economy.
Saying Harris “broke” the economy, Trump said he’s going to “fix it and fix it very fast.” When it came to the border, Trump aired an ad talking about the death of Jocelyn Nungaray, who was allegedly killed by two immigrants in the U.S. illegally. They are both charged with capital murder.
In addition, Trump had a mother-in-law of a service member who died in a 2021 suicide bombing outside Kabul airport during the withdrawal from Afghanistan speak. She blamed the Biden-Harris administration for her daughter-in-law’s death. Trump has repeatedly tied Harris to the withdrawal, which he calls a “mess” for the administration.
Harris has previously said she mourns the 13 people who were killed and that her heart breaks for their loved ones’ pain and loss.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
