People always talk about the lesser of two evils. The problem with that is that evil is evil and I’m not sure it is quantifiable. But just for the sake of argument, let’s pretend that it is, in which case we should be glad that MAGA roast comic Tony Hinchcliffe didn’t go for the planned gusto and call Kamala Harris the c-word Sunday night at Madison Square Garden.
DONALD TRUMP’S CAMPAIGN WAS LEFT scrambling Sunday night after roast-comic Tony Hinchcliffe made insulting jokes about Hispanic and black people on stage at the ex-president’s Madison Square Garden rally.
The lines sparked immediate backlash and even condemnation from fellow Republicans. But four top campaign sources said it could have been even worse.
“He had a joke calling [Vice President Kamala] Harris a ‘cunt,’” a campaign insider involved in the discussions about the event told The Bulwark. “Let’s say it was a red flag.”
Hinchcliffe’s remarks—and the ensuing backlash—has sparked questions about how such an offensive speech was allowed at such a high-profile rally; whether it was deliberate; and why a presidential campaign would elevate a roast-master comic edgelord in the closing days of a tight race for the White House.
Campaign staffers had asked all speakers to submit drafts of their speeches ahead of time—before they were loaded into the teleprompter—according to the aforementioned sources. Once the objectionable “cunt” joke was spotted, the sources said, a staffer asked Hinchcliffe to strike it. He complied.
Thank God for small favors. I guess. How did we even get here? How does even a draft of a speech wherein a political opponent is debased on such a level even exist for somebody to flag in the first place? It’s because the last nine years of our political life has been eroded by a complacent and complicit GOP, which reached out to grab the shiny object, the reality TV show host guy, and whitewash him as a legitimate businessman, billionaire, and political contender.
Trump is the anti-Terry Malloy (the Brando character in On The Waterfront.) Malloy is distraught because he “coulda been a contender” if only his brother had backed him. Trump is a guy who never could have been a contender, for any political office, let alone president, but for the massive propaganda job that the GOP did.
Trump sailed into power effortlessly during a vacuum of leadership within the Republican party. He had instant name recognition from his TV show, The Apprentice, where for 14 years he pretended to be an uber successful self-made billionaire. It was all Hollywood smoke and mirrors. It was “reality” in name only. Yet it was enough to get Trump into the Oval Office, which goes to show how democracy itself is subject to terrifying twists and unexpected turns. Certainly the Founding Fathers never foresaw anything like this.
About three hours after the performance, as condemnation was pouring in from left, right, and center, the Trump campaign was forced to take the rare step of distancing itself from one of their speakers—though it only separated itself from the “trash” line and not the watermelon one.
“This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” Danielle Alvarez, a Trump senior adviser said.
By then, the political damage had been done. In Pennsylvania, home to a sizable number of Puerto Rican voters, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro denounced the comments. At roughly the same moment, Puerto Rican reggaeton superstar Bad Bunny announced his endorsement of Harris.
The watermelon line was okay but the “island of trash” line was a bridge too far. Okay. Good to know.
The America super PAC financed by billionaire Elon Musk recently released a web ad that repeatedly calls Harris “the C Word.” Only later does it say she’s a “communist.” And during a podcast appearance just hours before the MSG rally, vice presidential candidate JD Vance repeatedly mocked Harris’s laugh, calling it “very fraudulent” and “so off putting.”
I don’t know how much uglier this campaign can get. The usual, “Grow up, get over it, it’s a joke” defense has already been given. The problem with moving the Overton Window too far too fast is that it usually shatters in somebody’s face. Here, we’re not looking at a radical change in ideas, merely at vulgar and crass ways of expressing ideas. What goes over on a podcast and what goes over on the campaign trail are too very different things.
In any event, the horse has left the barn now. Let’s see what happens next. Supposedly Trump can do anything and the needle never moves. Maybe he will shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue before November 5. I can’t say that I would be surprised.
Yet VP Harris stating, truthfully, that trump is a fascist is over a line in the sand. It’s hate speech, horrible and causing division in this country according to magat mike and the other magat morons. Do any of you know of an inexpensive country I can move to if that pos felon, convicted rapist wins the upcoming election? I will not stay in this country. I will not. Maybe Vietnam,? I hear it’s beautiful with many Americans who live there inexpensively. I just can’t take any more of that pos.
Costa Rica is always nice if you don’t mind the rain
I think it’s tragic that we’re even having these conversations, be they academic or reality-based, it’s tragic that Americans would think of fleeing our home.
I think we’ve all had similar thoughts. I know that I have. I wonder if Trump will hut off our Social Security checks? The fact that we’re even having this conversation tells you everything you need to know. :((
You know something? And this will sound cray but I wish this little piss-ant DID call V.P. Harris the “c” word. I suspect the effects of such a thing would be VERY far-reaching. The hay the democrats, dem pacs, and Harris campaign would make of such a thing would have been tremendous. So tremendous in fact that I would wonder if trump would win a single e.c. vote. The ads would almost write themselves…”this is what the republicans think of YOUR little girl, sister, mother, grandmother…” and then show the clip. Yes, such a thing should not be said but neither should any of the tropes that ran thru sunday’s klan rally at msg. I notice people of Puerto Rican descent and the folks on the island did not miss a beat retaliating.
That’s exactly correct. And Donald Dum Dum is going to Pennsylvania tomorrow, Allentown to be precise, after having insulted a good portion of Pennsylvanian voters.
my daughter will NOT be happy about that.
It’s been a rough day but I’ve tried to catch some news and have seen coverage of this business about vetting the “comedian’s” remarks (or not) and the part about the c-word. What none of the pundits seem to be doing is DIRECTLY connecting those two dots. Instead of going with a ‘well, it was loaded into and read from a teleprompter so come on – Team Trump had to know’ which is okay but only part of the tale they’ve ignored the actual proof.
The assholes remarks WERE in fact edited and at least one joke was taken out at Team Trump’s request. THERE is your f**king proof they knew all along about the Puerto Rico “joke” and the watermelon one. And everything else he said. If they read carefully enough to say ‘we don’t want you to use THAT in your routine’ and he agreed that means they went through it with him! How the hell can the pundits NOT be hammering the hell out of that as proof Trump is lying. AND giving him hell for violating his Roy Cohn rule of never, ever EVER backing down an inch?
I saw the ad using the “joke” and Trump tossing paper towels down in Puerto Rico. It needs to have an addition about how “Never apologize, never back down’ Trump is trying to back down! Fox might not air it but word will get around this week and it’s the kind of thing that might make a small, but still important number of MAGA goobers start wondering if Trump is really their guy or trying to ‘suck up to those who aren’t already with us’ and that’s something Trump can’t afford to have people thinking.
It’s also something to hammer Trump and Vance and every GOP candidate with. Trump’s ‘backing down’ because even he realizes he took the hate too far. To me that’s the big news out of last night.