ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Former President Donald Trump received a full-throated endorsement from Puerto Rico’s Republican shadow senator on Tuesday as he distanced himself from the comedian who made a controversial joke about the island during his weekend event at Madison Square Garden.
“I strongly and fully support and endorse Donald J. Trump to be our 47th president — to make America great again and, of course, to make Puerto Rico shine again,” Zoraida Buxó informed the former president’s supporters during a rally in Pennsylvania.
Trump, 78, later brought Buxó back on stage during his remarks in the key swing state.
“We need this man back in the White House,” the shadow senator said. “We need this man to be our commander-in-chief. He will make us feel safe, and he will protect us.”
Buxó was one of three Hispanic speakers who graced the stage in Allentown — a majority Latino city about 60 miles north of Philadelphia — the others being local business leader Tim Ramos and US Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).
Her endorsement follows the controversy over comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s comparison of the US territory to a “floating island of garbage” during Trump’s Sunday rally at Madison Square Garden — an event the former president referred to as the “greatest evening anyone seen politically.”
Hinchcliffe, the host of the “Kill Tony” podcast, has been slammed by Democrats, including the Harris-Walz campaign, and by several Republicans, such as Rubio, over the crude remark.
Trump, 78, distanced himself from the 40-year-old comedian during an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, claiming that he has “no idea” who Hinchcliffe is and doesn’t want anything to do with him in the wake of his “nasty” joke.
“I still have — I have no idea who he is,” Trump told Hannity.
“Somebody said there was a comedian that joked about Puerto Rico or something, and I have no idea who he is, never saw him, never heard of him and don’t want to hear of him,” he explained.
Trump suggested that Hinchcliffe wasn’t vetted before the MSG gathering but said, “it’s nobody’s fault.”
“But somebody said some bad things,” he acknowledged, before fuming that Hinchcliffe’s comments are being associated with his campaign.
“Now what they’ve done is taken somebody that has nothing to do with the party, has nothing to do with us — [Hinchcliffe] said something — and they try and make a big deal,” Trump said.
“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,” Trump continued.
“I’ve done more for Puerto Rico than any president,” he argued, referring to his administration’s work to restore the island’s infrastructure and electrical grid in the wake of Hurricane Maria in 2017.
Trump later admitted that it was perhaps a mistake to allow an insult comedian on stage at the New York City event.
“Do you wish he wasn’t there?” Hannity asked the Republican nominee for president.
“Yeah, I mean — I don’t know if it’s a big deal or not but I don’t want anybody making nasty jokes or stupid jokes,” Trump responded.
“Probably, he shouldn’t have been there,” he added.
