sunday afternoonWhen Donald Trump held a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York, comedian and podcaster Tony Hinchcliffe opened the big show with a series of racist jokes. He called Puerto Rico “an island of trash floating in the middle of the ocean,” made crude comments about Latinos and sex, and joked about carving watermelons with black people for Halloween. Some people in the crowded stadium laughed. It was the beginning of MAGA extremism, which included a speaker calling Vice President Kamala Harris the “antichrist” and another describing Harris’ advisers as “pimp handlers.” The shindig culminated in one of Trump’s most incendiary speeches.
Throughout the hours-long program, Elon Musk, Tulsi Gabbard, JD Vance, Eric Trump, Lara Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Melania Trump, Dr. No one in the lineup, including Phil and Tucker Carlson, called out Hinchcliffe. .
So did Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
When it was his turn, the former Democratic lawmaker, who ran an unsuccessful independent presidential campaign this year, praised Trump, saying that if he were elected, he would “restore moral authority” in the United States. Protect the Constitution and freedom of speech, and rebuild the middle class. He also declared that President Trump will “stop dividing this country based on race.”
Kennedy’s silence about Hinchcliffe’s dirty racism was more important than the silence of his fellow Trump supporters. Because he once had strong ties to Puerto Rico.
In 2001, he was arrested and sentenced to 30 days in prison for participating in a series of protests aimed at stopping US Navy bombing exercises on the island of Vieques. Protesters claimed the bombing damaged the island’s environment and affected its 9,100 residents. Arrested protesters included actor Edward James Olmos, Congressman Luis Gutierrez, and pastor Al Sharpton. Kennedy ended up serving some time in prison. He was so emotionally invested in this protest that he gave one of his children the middle name Vieques.
So what did Kennedy think of Hinchcliffe’s racist gag?
Monday morning, I contacted Kennedy on his cell phone and asked him why he had not said anything at the rally about those remarks. Kennedy asked us to take the record off. really? Should he stop recording to discuss this? I responded that I would prefer to record this conversation. He agreed and said: “I was not aware of Tony Hinchcliffe’s comments when I spoke, or I would have mentioned them.” He paused as if that was enough.
“So what do you think about it now?” I asked.
“I think it was unfortunate,” he said. He paused for a moment and then added, “That’s all I have to say.”
Just unhappy? Is there anything stronger?
I tried to ask Kennedy for more, but he hung up.
His response was much weaker than the statement the Trump campaign issued when it realized Hinchcliffe’s disastrous performance had tainted Trump’s campaign finale. “This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.”
Other Republicans spoke more bluntly. Florida Senator Rick Scott tweeted: “This joke is there for a reason. It’s not funny and it’s not true. Puerto Ricans are amazing people and amazing Americans!” Recently imprisoned Trump adviser Peter Navarro called Hinchcliffe “the biggest, dumbest bastard in comedy.”
Hinchcliffe’s comments soon drew harsh criticism from the Harris campaign, while prominent Puerto Ricans including Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin expressed support for Harris. Within hours of Hinchcliffe’s Madison Square Garden appearance, Harris’ team released videos and social media posts attacking his racist cracks and promoting the leader’s plans for Puerto Rico.
In a 1963 speech, then-Attorney General Robert Kennedy declared that one of America’s “most important moral impulses” was to confront racial discrimination and “do everything possible to abolish racial discrimination.” And while speaking at a Trump event, RFK Jr. praised his father and uncle, President John Kennedy, for leading a party that championed civil rights. But Kennedy failed to live up to the standards his father demanded by associating himself with Trump, who has a long record of racism. (He also promoted racist and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.) His reluctance to sharply criticize the blatant racism displayed at Trump rallies where he was a headliner suggests that Kennedy was a politician driven more by opportunism than his family legacy. It is implied.
