WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, Donald Trump allowed his dangerous and delusional crusade against “the enemy within” to take center stage at his New York City rally. Rally speaker Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico “an island of trash in the ocean” before railing against “the fucking illegals” and making crass comments about Latino Americans’ sex lives and families.
It was no accident that the Trump campaign platformed a racist, anti-immigrant and anti-American rant in New York City—a city of immigrants home to almost 600,000 Puerto Ricans. They want their hate to be heard and felt where it will hurt the most.
Donald Trump’s campaign scapegoats and villainizes Puerto Rico because their over 3 million disenfranchised American citizens aren’t able to vote against him. He has nothing to offer voters other than fear of their fellow Americans; that is not democracy—it’s demagoguery.
In this election, voters from the 50 United States will have to vote against hate and elect Kamala Harris. After this election, we must continue to work towards a more just America, so that the citizens of Puerto Rico and the Douglas Commonwealth can vote along with us.