(The Hill) – Former President Trump on Tuesday shrugged off the furor over a racist joke told by a comedian at his Madison Square Garden rally.
Trump made his first on-camera comments about the backlash over Tony Hinchcliffe’s remarks in which he compared Puerto Rico to a “floating island of garbage.”
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“What they’ve done is taken somebody that has nothing to do with the party, has nothing to do with us, said something. And they try to make a big deal,” Trump said on Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News. “But I don’t know who it is. I don’t even know who put him in, and I can’t imagine it’s a big deal.”
Asked if he wished Hinchcliffe weren’t at the rally, Trump said, “Probably, he shouldn’t have been there, yeah.”
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The former president said he has an “unbelievably good relationship with Puerto Rico,” though he faced intense criticism over his administration’s handling of Hurricane Maria and repeatedly sparred with island officials.
Hinchcliffe delivered a set hours before Trump spoke that included inflammatory attacks on Puerto Ricans.
“There’s a lot going on. Like, I don’t know if you 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,” Hinchcliffe said, eliciting mixed reactions from the crowd.
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At another point, Hinchcliffe said Latinos “love making babies.”
The remark drew backlash from Democrats and even some Trump allies, who lamented that it became a major storyline in the final week of the campaign and potentially alienated voters in crucial battleground states.
The Trump campaign, in a rare move, distanced itself from Hinchcliffe’s “garbage” joke, saying it “does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.”
