Why Did It Take Puerto Rico Being Insulted At Trump's Madison Square Garden Rally For Puerto Ricans To Turn Against Trump For President Of The United States?

Edited by Azizi Powell

(latest edited version - November 2, 2024)

This pancocojams post presents a sample of comments from two YouTube discussion threads about reactions to the "joke" about Puerto Rico being a floating island of garbage in the ocean "that "comedian" Tony Hinchcliffe made during former President Donald Trump's October 27, 2024.Madison Square Garden (New York City) rally on 

These selected comments focus on the following questions questions or responses to these questions:
1. Why did it take Puerto Rico being directly insulted at Trump's Madison Square Garden rally for Puerto Ricans be outraged and decide not to vote for former President Donald Trump for President of the United States in 2024?

2.Why were some Puerto Ricans voting for Trump before that insult?

3. Why was the insult about Puerto Rico singled out instead of other "jokes" or all of the other jokes directed at other People of Color that Tony Hinchcliffe made at that same Madison Square Garden rally? 

The content of this post is given for historical, political, and socio-cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
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There are LOTS of YouTube discussion threads about this subject. 

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/10/comments-about-how-donald-trumps-racist.html for a closely related October 28, 2024 pancocojams post entitled "Comments About How Donald Trump's Racist Madison Square Garden Rally Will Help Kamala Harris Win The 2024 Presidential Election".

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SELECTED COMMENTS
  
These online sources are given in chronological order based on the YouTube video's publishing date.

Numbers are added for referencing purposes only. 

SOURCE #1
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXlU5O6ZX74 "That's messed up': Puerto Rican who voted for Trump reacts to controversial joke from rally", published by CNN, Oct 29, 2024 

CNN's Danny Freeman speaks with Puerto Rican voters following offensive comments made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe during a rally for Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden in New York.  #CNN #News
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Total # of views this video has of November 1, 2024 at 7:11 PM EDT = 862,074
Total # of comments this discussion thread has of November 1, 2024 at 7:12 PM EDT = 11,645

Selected comments:
 
1. @tenn1sh2, October 30, 2024
"Moral of the Story: The Devil isn’t that bad unless he starts knocking on your door."

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2. @Bklyn112, October 30, 2024
"They should have been outraged when the Haitians, Muslims and others were disparaged.  Somehow people never think it will be their turn, until it is. "Then they came for me" "

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3. @dstn2bgrt,October 31, 2024
"@Bklyn112  when you feel the same as the person disrespecting it doesn't bother you until it personally comes to you."

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4. @May-kr7cs, October 31, 2024
"First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

—Martin Niemöller

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5. @mypurpose01able, October 30, 2024
"Spot on and exactly how I've felt since hearing about the justified outrage.  Before this we hadnt heard anything from the community...I guess is the one thing that pushed a button!"

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6. @jgamble482, October 30, 2024
"@Bklyn112  Their turn AGAIN! This isn't the first time someone in the trump camp, besides trump, to disrespect Puerto Rica and it's people."

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7. @DustinKlein-l1r, October 30, 2024
"Yea it’s sad that people support him until the insults come to them or their group. Haven’t people realized this has happened to groups for 9 years?"

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8. @tracyhoward5073, October 30, 2024
"This!!!"

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9. @godbless9563, October 30, 2024
"Exactly as long as it was everyone else it was ok but now it's not. We have been trying to tell them all along but some just won't listen. They don't like y'all either so why go against others to be down with them.wake up call."

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10. @loki2240, October 30, 2024
"@godbless9563  - Most Puerto Ricans who could vote voted for Biden, Clinton, and Obama. Are you suggesting that we be bigoted against all or most Puerto Rcans because some voted for Trump and other Republicans? Because some black folks voted for Trump and other Republicans, too. I know I'm not responsible for that, and I don't want to be held responsible for it. And I know that I'm not bigoted against Puerto Ricans, and I don't want to be held responsible if you or other back people are."

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11. @sharonchilds3871, October 30, 2024
"@Bklyn112 So true. Now they’re outraged. Trump feels the same about all non white people"

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12. @deneenjones8952, October 31, 2024
"Trump has never treated Puerto Ricans respectful. He told them they’re death toll was running up his budget when he visited them in the hurricane. He said he would trade Puerto Rico for Greenland lol I mean what more do they need? Anti blackness is accepted however, when it comes home it becomes unacceptable. In the words of Angela Davis “If they come for us tonight…. Then they will come for you tomorrow” no one is safe when we’re dealing with hatred. It has no bounds"

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13. @ashafarah9414,October 31, 2024
"🙄Now you get mad Puerto Rico? after all the 😡 did to you? 🤣🤣🤣"

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14. @camishan7928, October 31, 2024
"@deneenjones8952  He's racist ok just racist. Black people, Puerto Ricans, Jews, yellow people, orange people. It doesn't matter he's racist."

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15. @DJTHumanWASTE, October 31, 2024
"Best saying ever! It’s never a problem until it’s happen to you! Dumb stupid naive of just easier to put your head in the sand! Ignorant is bliss n all that!"

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16. @luispanduro9014, October 30, 2024
"It’s called selective outrage if it’s not towards their own community, they ignore it. Until they themselves get targeted"

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17. @Nitrous2OH, October 30, 2024
"That's halfway true. Stockholm syndrome. Many of us been pissed. They just aint covered it in the media."

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18, @xaviSF, October 30, 2024
"Same with Cubans. You never hear anything about Cubans from republicans cause they know they’ll get pissed. But it’s ok to talk crap about Mexicans."

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19. @godbless9563, October 30, 2024
"Exactly I'm trying to figure out why they thought they were not included in the first place 🙄"

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20. @JudithinNYC, October 30, 2024
"No it is not. No one asked my how I felt about about Haitians being insulted, or went around putting microphones in our faces, but we were offended. It’s called being humam."

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21. @janicethomas3278, October 30, 2024
"Like the first speaker said, it woke them up. That is why we Black Americans stay WOKE.  We don't have the luxury of falling asleep."

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22. @AngelaShawWestoven, October 30, 2024
"🎯 Exactly!"

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23, @stringer2295, October 30, 2024
"Black people have been saying this dude was racist since 2015, now that it happened them they’re outraged 🤦🏾‍♂️"

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24. @JudithinNYC, October 30, 2024
"@stringer2295  that is really unfair, the great majority of Puerto Ricans were already anti trump. Also, it’s not like I don’t see several Blacks on tv daily defending trump and making excuses for him."

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25. @foreveryours7464, October 30, 2024
"Some of us aren't woke they are still going to vote for Trump ."

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26. @em369-z4g, October 31, 2024
"@stringer2295 it’s called privilege. It’s when they think something is not a problem until it happens to them personally."

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27. @blazee3895, October 31,  2024
"@JudithinNYC I wouldn’t say several but the overwhelming majority of Black Americans are supporting Harris. I’m not sure of the breakdown for Puerto Ricans."

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28. @knockshinnoch1950, October 30, 2024
"FFS Trump is telling them he's gonna deport them and still they vote for him- how stupid is America..."

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29. @DarleneWaselenchuk-n2v,October 30, 2024
"Very!"

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30. @ES-qt6yo, October 30, 2024
"Puerto ricans are citizens of the U.S..Learn about your own country"

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31. @carlojones833, October 30, 2024
" @ES-qt6yo Right? How do you deport Americans?"

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32. @vedacarmony5754, October 30, 2024
"@ES-qt6yo the point is that no one is safe from MAGATS."

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33. @carlosvillanueva8530, October 30, 2024
"@carlojones833  Have you never seen the movie "Born in East LA" That does really happen, I'm telling you this from personal experience."

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34. @ES-qt6yo, October 30, 2024
"@carlojones833  The police or ice can arrest anyone..If they do it in circumstances where people can't immediately prove their citizenship (don't have passport or birth certificate handy) they can be put in the detention system. Depending on the process they adopt for mass deportation, due process may not be offered or followed."

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35. @carlojones833, October 31, 2024
"@carlosvillanueva8530  Puerto Ricans are Americans."

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36. @blazee3895, October 31, 2024
" @ES-qt6yo During that whole Haitian debacle, trump said he’s deporting both legal and illegal immigrants. Didn’t you hear him and several speakers at the rally say, “This country is for Americans only! They don’t see immigrants as true Americans and he certainly doesn’t see PR as Americans."

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37. @catactt5178, October 30, 2024
" @middleguy1776 They have been saying horrible things this whole time about everyone who is not white. Too bad they have to call your name to realize that you are included."

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38. @2009PocoLoco, October 30, 2024
"@catactt5178  plenty of white Puerto Ricans……I live here and we have every race here. Puerto Rican is not a race. It’s a place. It’s like you’d say Texans and that’s a race?"

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39. @gregcauthon1958, October 30, 2024
"Trump has shown and has said how he feels about Puerto Rico in the past after major hurricanes..it is not good..Trump has never respected the people in Latin countries.."

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40. @taitraining3055, October 30, 2024
"I don't understand either: lack of education? self-esteem? self-loathing?"

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41. @rhapsodicchimera3861,October 30, 2024
"Exactly! And then to still stand there and be shocked that he disrespected them again. Make it make sense. It doesn't take all day to see the sunshine."

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42. @shevincoe,October 30, 2024
"I think the majority of Puerto Ricans vote blue anyway, but you always have a few that vote Republican. I'm not sure this makes a big difference. But it's kinda like saying I wonder why any black person would vote for Trump knowing all the racist things he said toward us.

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43. @lucyc1077, October 30, 2024
"Tried to trade puerto rico for Greenland!"

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44. @allermenchenaufder, October 30, 2024
"Generally (not to generalize) a Woman for president is a NO go in their misogynistic culture."

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45. @istillbetalkin, November 1, 2024
"It’s amazing how everyone is so shocked and frustrated by THESE comments. The old man has been disrespectful to anyone who doesn’t look like him since day 1 ! That’s the problem with people. Everyone wants to count themselves better than others never thinking they’ll be next in line to be the punching bag. Keep on FAFO 🤷🏽‍♀️"

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46. @SidH-d9i, November 1, 2024
"Y'all not mad. Stop lying cause you still voted for his ass. If you were mad, you'd do something about it, but you won't cause y'all dont want a woman of color in office. Y'all would want this white man who just called your home a floating island of garbage. WHEN will all of us wake up and hear the TRUTH that is and has been coming out of this man's mouth. If your family or friends said something like that, you would fight them."

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47. @invictusbey3543, November 1, 2024
"That's what they get they come here and try and act like they're Caucasians. With there races ass they thought that they were passing for Caucasian and they come from the Teanos who were Black but now u see how they really feel about u"

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48. @danuel7726, November 1, 2024
"When you have deep-rooted cultural bias that is perpetuated throughout generations. It's hard to vote for someone who represents and looks like the people you've been told were lazy and stupid. Especially within your own race you dislike and mistreat Afro-Latinos because there skin is too dark, it hits different when it comes to your front door"

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49. @catseye1009, November 1, 2024
"When Trump was insulting Mexicans, that was Ok, when insulted Blacks, women, the disabled, Asians, that was Ok. NOW YOU FEEL OUTRAGE?!"

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50. @djmommymom, November 1, 2024
"What kills me is that ANY minorities even think about voting for Trump. They think “he’s not talking about me”…but he is. He is talking about changing your life for the worse. YOURS. Not “them.”  YOU."

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SOURCE #2
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bjd100_Lxo0  "Lin-Manuel Miranda Responds to Puerto Rico “Island of Garbage” Quip" published by Amanpour and Company, Oct 31, 2024  

In an interview about his new project "Warriors," Lin-Manuel Miranda responded to comedian Tony Hinchcliffe calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” at a Trump rally.
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Total # of views as of November 1, 2024 at 7:33 PM EDT = 38,239

Total # of comments as of November 1, 2024 at 7:34 PM EDT = 265

Selected comments:

1. @disky01, Oct. 31, 2024
"It definitely bugs me that this is what it might take to give some people the motivation to vote Democrat, but any port in a storm, I guess."

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2. @josephinebournes8212, November 1, 2024
"Exactly 💯 so thousands of Puerto Ricans were ok with Trump when the hate was being directed at other groups?"

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3. @DansChan995, November 1, 2024
"True.  Why is the Puerto Rican comment the only one to get all that attention with all the other insults that were coming out?"

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4. @CamilaYRicardo7, November 1, 2024
"Maybe because the PR communities are reacting with intense outrage on the Island and the mainland more than the other insults from the comedian's mouth and responding with their votes. Again, maybe.  As a Puerto Rican, I was already outraged with DJT when, back in 2016, he called Mexicans drug dealers, criminals, and rapists and every racist insult after that of other groups."

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5. @djmommymom, November 1, 2024
"What kills me is that ANY minorities even think about voting for Trump. They think “he’s not talking about me”…but he is. He is talking about changing your life for the worse. YOURS. Not “them.”  YOU.Funny.  I didn’t see Lin Manuel or any of these other Latin American entertainers get THIS upset about Trump spewing lies about another Latin-American country: Haiti."

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6. @ediorfitzgerald1478, November 1, 2024
"The reason they only walked back the Puerto Rican insult is because the Puerto Rican community is the only community that galvanized vigorously and called them out on it!"
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"They" in this comment refers to the Trump campaign.

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7.@SciHeartJourney, November 1, 2024
"I'm calling out those Puerto Ricans that are so offended.

Where were you EIGHT YEARS AGO when Hilary Clinton needed you? 😡

You Puerto Ricans VOTED for Trump in large numbers!

SHAME on YOU! 🤦

Where were you when he was calling us Mexicans "murderers and rapists?"

I'm not even from Mexico, but I look like one. I have a hard time finding a JOB I'm highly skilled at. The RACISM affects our BOSSES. I get the 💩 jobs even though I'm highly educated and experienced. I couldn't find ANY job during the Trump administration. The racism became so blatant.

Where was your outrage then?

And some Puerto Ricans STILL support him even after those awful comments.

They actually prayed for God to interfere with our elections. 🤦"

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8. @alphaomega8373, November 1, 2024
"Welcome to the world of WOKE mighty mighty PR!"

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9. @kevp5745, November 1, 2024
"What’s hard for me to digest is the fact that Puerto Ricans were still in support of this pos before the “garbage” comparison, did they forget his previous insults and treatment?😒"

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10. @jimhunt1592, November 1, 2024
"I can understand why they are afraid. Usually Trump attacks groups of people who can't fight back effectively. Either they can't vote, or their number is too small to swing the election. But for the first time in a while the bully picked on a group of people who can fight back effectively and now he is afraid of the consequences. I hope that most people of Puerto Rican descent do choose to fight back and that good people are on their side. I know I am."

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11. @118timujin, November 1, 2024
"The only  problem I have with the whole outrage coming out of the PR community is the fact that it needed to take them directly falling victim to republican racism for them to finally turn their back on Trump and his cronies. Up until that point you still had people like that clown Nicki Jam publicity offering support for trump’s fascist agenda. Where was this outrage when Mexico, the Muslim community, Haiti, the "S-hole countries"  etc. were all being targeted by Trump?? Now that it’s their turn they finally see the light?

 

Take note you Cubans if Florida… Your turn might also be just around the corner!"

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12. @SL-lz9jr, November 1, 2024
"Not just what happened with the lack of financial and resource support after the hurricanes. Trump has been like this to every other minority group. It bugs me when certain Arabs or Muslims support Trump and I'm thinking have you forgotten the ban on certain Middle Eastern countries when he took office? Or did our collective memories wipe away that atrocity? And nevermind his build a wall to Mexico that never came to fruition. Why are Mexicans still voting for him? Or did they make it in America and forgot their homeland? And no Jewish person should vote for Trump because he loves Hitler's leadership style. The list goes on. Wake up! He hates you all."

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13. @Sticky-Situation, November 1, 2024
"The Puerto Rican community is not immune to the collective amnesia we suffer in this country, but when reminded, we mobilize. 🌊🇺🇸 John Leguizamo months ago, said "Latinos will decide this election". He was right. 🇵🇷"

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14. @OntheWingsofDoves,November 1, 2024
"Calling the place where millions of Americans come from " a pile of garbage in the water" is so uncalled for in any election.  It means you are saying the people there have no value, worthless, that's an insult that will make anyone tear up who has a heart!"

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15. @Vgudorf, November 1, 2024
"@OntheWingsofDoves  It’s just another version of Trump’s S&%$-hole countries comment. Why do people not believe he says what he means?"

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16. @TerranigmaQuintet, November 1, 2024
"The difference between the Puerto Rico joke vs the jokes against other minority groups, was the response it got. Puerto Ricans had every rigth to be outraged about that joke and the implication of it being made at that rally. IF  peopel would just get just as outraged at the other minority groups getting attacked and joked about to the extend it did ,ere, then Trump would try to distance himself from that as well."

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17. @carlosencarnacion9667, November 1, 2024
"Some Puerto Ricans have forgiven the Trump corral, again, I call them HALF ASS Puerto Ricans, the ones that justify and forgive 126 years colonial rule, since we were invaded in 1898, those who consider themselves "American Citizens" especially the ones that live in the islands of Puerto Rico, and dismiss these racist attitudes. Those are half ass Puerto Ricans with split loyalties, split between being "American" and Puerto Rican, those are HALF ASSimilated. US citizens since 1917, with half the rights and almost all the obligations, except, federal income tax. That is 127 tears (years) of second class, half US citizenship. So, are you american, Puerto Rican, or a HALF ASS? It is time for us to be a free nation, we are conservative, we want to conserve our ways, our nationality, not dual, our religion, our language, our customs, our 531 year old culture and history. We do not want to become a footnote in history and become only folcloric clowns, dancing for the tourists. WE WANT TO BE FREE!"

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18. @elbruces, November 1, 2024
"Any Puerto Ricans who were considering voting for Trump are getting a huge amount of calls and texts from every other family member right now."

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19. @dave2408, November 1, 2024
"It’s an American election

Do Puerto Ricans get a vote ?"

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20. @m.g.3021, November 1, 2024
"If they live in one of the 50 states, yes."

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21. @craftlover9702, November 1, 2024
"It is mind boggling that it takes something like this for people to stand up and take notice.  Trump all along has shown us who he is.  People make excuses, oh he didn't mean this or that...  YES he does mean it!   He is a spoiled, rich, white kid to the core who looks down his nose to ANYONE who is not of white rich status.  IF you are poor or middle class white he still looks down his nose at you.  He only wants on thing, POWER, that is it.  He has no intention of doing any good for this Country.  People who follow him blindly one day may or may not wake up but if you do you will finally realize he duped you!"

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22. @brynneholt1990, November 1, 2024
"My theory is that many Puerto Ricans and to a lesser extent Latinos from other places that are documented and support the Orange felon were under the impression that the rhetoric didn’t apply to them, when it did, regardless of immigration status."

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