Comedian Tony Hinchliffe‘s remarks at the rally for Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden on October 27th, where he referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage,” went down so badly that it achieved the rarest of things – a condemnation from Trump’s official campaign team for going way too far.
A spokesperson for Team Trump said that the joke “does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” a surprising move from the former President who once made remarks about “s**thole countries”, but there is a calculation behind this statement.
Trump has a surprisingly strong Latino following in some demographics – edging out Democrats with Cubans and older voters, and even winning against Biden on the matter of immigration in some polls. This is not a demographic Republicans want to throw away.
Hinchliffe’s remarks also seem to underline that he is unaware that Puerto Rico is, in fact, a U.S. territory, rather than a sovereign state in its own right. If Trump were to win the election, the island would be part of his jurisdiction. So, why refer to a part of the U.S. as “garbage” when trying to appeal to voters? Do residents of the island not have a say in who becomes the President, and can thus be disregarded by Republicans? The answer is not so straightforward.
Are Puerto Ricans eligible to vote in the U.S. elections?
While Puerto Rico is classed as U.S. territory, residents on the island of Puerto Rico aren’t able to vote for President of the United States. Still, Presidents have executive power over the territory, perhaps most famously showcased by Donald Trump’s slow and financially insufficient response to the 2017 hurricanes.
The criticism was immortalized by the viral clip of Trump throwing paper towels into the crowd of Puerto Ricans looking for shelter and emergency supplies – perhaps a perfect encapsulation of the frivolous treatment of Puerto Ricans and the dire lack of support given by the U.S. Government in the wake of the disaster.
Residents of Puerto Rico are, however, eligible to vote in Presidential Primaries, helping to elect the candidate for both the Democratic and Republican parties. The territory has its own head of government in the Governor of Puerto Rico, an office held by Pedro Pierluisi since 2021. Similarly to the President of the U.S., the Governor has legislative and executive powers over the island.
However, lots of Puerto Ricans do vote in the U.S. Presidential election – and they outnumber those who don’t. According to Pew Research Center, 5.8 million Puerto Ricans currently live on United States soil – a number far greater than the 3.2 million currently living on the island, according to the United States Census.
A large proportion of Americans of Puerto Rican descent live in key swing states, such as Pennsylvania, where the capital city of Philadelphia alone boasts 90,000 Puerto Ricans – significantly higher than the 80,000 majority Joe Biden won the state by back in 2020. While many Republicans have defended Hinchliffe’s joke – it may stop being so funny to them come November.
