A 'garbage' comedian sinks a rally

Oct 28, 2024

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Tony Hinchcliffe, who made racist comments during former President Donald Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden, arrives to speak at the podium.

Tony Hinchcliffe spoke before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. | (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

BEYOND THE PAIL: Earlier this month, state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal compared Trump’s closing-week rally at Madison Square Garden to a famed Nazi gathering at the same venue.

The Manhattan Democrat was slammed for the remark.

Now, after a speaker at Sunday’s mass gathering called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” and hurled insults at Blacks, Jews and Palestinians, Hoylman-Sigal defended his earlier comparison.

“Is anyone surprised how dark and divisive the rally ended up being?” he told Playbook. “Women, Jews, Muslims, Puerto Ricans and immigrants were all targeted, straight from the MAGA playbook.”

Overnight, the comments at the Trump rally have mobilized Democrats in New York — home to 1.1 million Puerto Ricans — as they seek to capitalize on the controversy in the final eight days of the campaign.

”We’re here to push back, to tell Pennsylvania, to tell Wisconsin, to tell Michigan … vote against Donald Trump, defeat him and send him back to retirement,” said the Dominican American Rep. Adriano Espaillat, speaking at East Harlem’s La Marqueta with federal, state and local elected Democrats, labor representatives and activists.

Joining him were veteran Democratic strategist Luis Miranda and Rep. Nydia Velázquez, a Brooklyn Democrat. Switching seamlessly between English and Spanish and waving Puerto Rican flags, the message of their rally message was simple: Don’t vote for a man who has disrespected us.

“We are not garbage,” Miranda said. Velázquez added, “This is a matter of self-respect.”

And one of the country’s most prominent Latina politicians, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, swiftly moved to condemn the remark Sunday night and today.

“This was a hate rally,” she said, responding on Morning Joe to Tony Hinchcliffe’s so-called joke.

Ocasio-Cortez, who has a strong Puerto Rican identity, also filmed a live reaction to the racist joke with Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz during a livestream where the two played the football video game Madden and other games.

One of her reps said the prominent New York Democrat is considering another trip to the battleground state of Pennsylvania in the final days of the Harris campaign. She also reposted a post that showed Pennsylvania’s nearly half-a-million Puerto Rican population: “I need every Boricua on here to take that rally clip and drop it in your family WhatsApps and group chats,” she said.

Even New York Republicans seemed to recognize the political threat of Hinchcliffe’s insults and scrambled to run away from them.

“As a Latina with friends and family residing in beautiful Puerto Rico, I believe it was a bad joke and a bad idea to have a comedian speak,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, a Staten Island Republican who holds Cuban heritage, told Playbook.

Malliotakis had slammed Holyman-Sigal for his comparison, and on Monday said the insults at the rally do not change Trump’s record.

“President Trump did more for Hispanics than Biden-Harris by creating millions of jobs, bringing Hispanic unemployment to the lowest level on record, giving our working class a tax cut, doubling the child tax credit and authorizing the Smithsonian Latino History Museum,” she said.

Another New York Republican in a tough fight to defend his seat next week was scrambling after the rally, which he attended.

“I’m proud to be Puerto Rican,” Long Island Republican Rep. Anthony D’Esposito wrote on X . “It’s a beautiful island with a rich culture and an integral part of the USA. The only thing that’s ‘garbage’ was a bad comedy set. Stay on message.”

D’Esposito’s opponent, Democrat Laura Gillen, responded to his remarks, saying through a spokesperson that the Republican’s “craven complicity” with Trump is obvious.

Harris supporters, who have long cast Trump’s rhetoric as dangerous and racist, say the rally is proof the dreck of the Trump campaign has reached its apex. The event also featured misogynistic and lewd comments from former pro wrestling star Hulk Hogan and businessman Grant Cardone.

Rep. Ritchie Torres, another New York Democrat with Puerto Rican heritage, got into the mix, saying “hatred is not a bug but a feature of Donald Trump's campaign.”

Meanwhile the Trump campaign said the “joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.”

Another Republican, Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt, who also criticized the Nazi comparison, had a bit less to say than his counterpart in congress.

Asked to respond, Ortt’s spokesperson merely said, “No comment.” — Jason Beeferman and Emily Ngo

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FROM CITY HALL

Maria Torres-Springer speaks into a microphone as Eric Adams looks on from behind.

First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer spoke highly of the scandal-plagued Adams administration at an Association for a Better New York Monday breakfast. | Benny Polatseck/Mayoral Photography Office

FEELING ‘BETTER’: In a bid to calm the city’s lobbyists and business interests amid turmoil at City Hall, First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer kicked off her speech to the Association for a Better New York Monday morning by addressing “the elephant in the room.”

“I think we can all agree that we are living through an unprecedented time in New York's history. Who could ever imagine that this could happen to our great city,” she said. “And by that, of course, I mean that the Yankees are down 0-2 in the World Series to the godforsaken LA Dodgers.”

The joke went over well, as did the rest of the speech, to the business-backed civic group.

“The organizations and people in this room are people we've been working with for a very long time,” Torres-Springer said after the Midtown Manhattan event. “Today was an opportunity to say, we're going to stay the course. We're going to keep focused on the effective functioning of government, on advancing major projects and ensuring that the 300,000 (person) workforce has the support that they need. And what we're asking everyone in this room is to stay on mission with us.”

Torres-Springer was promoted to first deputy after Sheena Wright was forced out, one of many top aides who’ve left City Hall amid multiple criminal investigations and the mayor’s indictment. — Jeff Coltin

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AT THE BALLOT BOX

Gov. Kathy Hochul made an announcement about nonpartisan efforts to protect voters today. | Darren McGee/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul

GUARDING THE VOTE: New York officials are bracing for potential post-Election Day violence, Gov. Kathy Hochul said this morning.

The governor, speaking in Brooklyn to tout protections for voters, said the State Police and the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services have been asked to assist local law enforcement entities to keep the peace at demonstrations or other large gatherings.

Preparations for potential violence have been underway for months by state officials, Hochul said. But the anxiety over the extremely tight presidential election has provided an added dose of uncertainty after next Tuesday.

Hochul pointed to an Ipsos poll that found a majority of voters nationwide fear post-election violence.

“Now, that's extremely disturbing,” she said. “That has not been the case in the past. It reflects the concerns that I've also heard from people concerned at the diners and the coffee shops and union halls.”

The concern follows the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol when supporters of former President Donald Trump sought to impede the certification of Joe Biden’s victory.

In New York that year, federal and state officials prepared for potential violence at the state Capitol in Albany, with State Street closed to traffic and the building wrapped in fencing to deter violent demonstrations. A protest at the building, however, never materialized. — Nick Reisman

From The Campaign Trail

An election mailer from former Assemblymember Peter Abbate criticizes fellow Democrats including Assemblymember Bill Colton, in addition to Republican Assemblymember Lester Chang.

An election mailer from former Assemblymember Peter Abbate criticizes fellow Democrats including Assemblymember Bill Colton, in addition to Republican Assemblymember Lester Chang. | Obtained by POLITICO

DEM AGAINST DEMS: Former Assemblymember Peter Abbate is defending his mailer attacking fellow Democrats ahead of Election Day, saying that Assemblymember Bill Colton is really “a Republican” who’s supporting GOP candidate Steve Chan in his race against Democratic state Sen. Iwen Chu.

Abbate’s mailer, first reported by the New York Post, accuses Colton and allies including City Council Member Susan Zhuang and Brooklyn Democratic Leader Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn of “ruining our community.”

There’s a longstanding feud, and Abbate blames Colton for getting him booted from the Democratic line this year, leaving GOP Assemblymember Lester Chang to run uncontested.

“It’s not personal,” Abbate said about the mailer, “other than he’s screwing the Democratic party.”

Abbate allies sent around a photo Sunday of Colton sharing campaign sign real estate with Chan — just one example of what critics say is a trend of him quietly supporting the challenger to the Democratic incumbent. Chu is a political rival of Colton.

Colton didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment, but called it “an expensive smear mailing” on Facebook, attributing Abbate’s move to “bitterness or mental confusion issues caused by his defeat two years ago.” — Jeff Coltin

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On the Beats

CONTINUING MANDELA’S LEGACY: Rick Stengel, a former Time Magazine editor and government official, will head a new leadership school that builds upon the legacy of the late anti-apartheid politician Nelson Mandela.

Stengel — former President Barack Obama’s Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs — will lead the Nelson Mandela Project for Social Change as its founder and first director.

The initiative, which will be based at the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at the City College of New York, seeks to develop a new generation of leaders worldwide. It aims to mirror the former South African president’s model aimed at bridging divides.

In the 1990s, Stengel collaborated with Mandela on his autobiography, “Long Walk to Freedom” — an experience that served as the basis for the ex-Obama official’s book, “Mandela’s Way.”

“Madiba would have loved this idea of creating a new generation of young global leaders who can address intractable problems in new and innovative ways,” he said in a statement. “City College and the Colin Powell School are the perfect place to do this in the United States. Producing effective leaders for positive social change is one of the greatest challenges of our time.”

The project marks the first collaboration between the United Nations, City College and the Nelson Mandela Foundation, a nonprofit based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

“We are pleased to be the institutional anchor in the United States for this important partnership with the UN System Staff College,” City College President Vince Boudreau said in a statement, referring to the UN organization that serves its staff. “It is particularly fitting, as CCNY was among Nelson Mandela’s first stops during his inaugural trip to the United States in 1990.” — Madina Touré

IN OTHER NEWS...

— MONDAIRE’S OLD COMMENTS: Former Democratic Rep. Mondaire Jones, who is mounting a challenge for a battleground congressional seat in the Hudson Valley, previously said he supports dramatically defunding ICE and the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. (New York Post)

— MANNION’S OLD SEAT: The Syracuse-area Senate seat vacated by the congressional hopeful Democrat John Mannion could very well fall into Republican hands. ( City & State)

— SLEEPING ON THE JOB: A Hochul-appointee on the state’s Board of Parole was removed from his post after showing up late nearly 20 times, falling asleep during hearings and behaving like a “narcissist.” (NY Focus)

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