Trump's NYC rally sparks backlash after comedian calls Puerto Rico 'island of garbage'

(This story has been updated.)

NEW YORK - In a White House campaign that remains razor close, Donald Trump on Sunday tried to leverage his celebrity status and deliver an entertaining, glitzy event that could break through the noise in the closing stretch.

Instead, the Republican presidential nominee's highly-touted Madison Square Garden rally courted controversy with a series of off-color jabs at Democrats and a warm-up act from a comedian that sparked a political furor with a key constituency Trump is hoping to win over in his bid for a second term in the White House.

During the early stages of the rally, the comedian Tony Hinchliffe, who goes by the stage name Kill Tony, mocked Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage” and also said Latinos have too many children. While Trump's campaign later sought to distance itself from the joke, it had already garnered condemnation from allies like Florida GOP Sen. Rick Scott and the chairman of the Republican Party of Puerto Rico.

"This joke bombed for a reason," said Scott, a first-term senator who is in his own heated 2024 re-election race. "It's not funny and it's not true."

Trump’s campaign had hoped with the Big Apple homecoming to create a moment with national resonance and get supporters to the polls with an over-the-top event. While some political observers questioned the wisdom of going to a deep blue state instead of a swing state in the final days of the campaign, Trump and many of his Republicans allies claimed New York is still in play.

With polls showing Trump has an advantage on the economy and immigration, he highlighted those issues in the first part of the remarks at the rally as the campaign seeks to blame opponent Kamala Harris for high inflation and large levels of illegal immigration in recent years. Trump unveiled a policy proposal calling for new tax cuts for people caring for loved ones at home and he sparked chants of "send them back" after invoking his plan to deport undocumented immigrants.

“The United States is now an occupied country but it will soon be a occupied country no longer… nine days from now will be liberation day in America," Trump said.

Trump didn’t shy away from some of his more controversial remarks, doubling down on his comments that Democrats and his opponents are the “enemy from within.”

“When I say the enemy from within the other side goes crazy… they’ve done very bad things to this country, they are indeed the enemy from within," Trump said.

The former president also continued to attack Harris in aggressive and deeply personal terms, saying she "can't put two sentences together" after a long line of speakers questioned her intelligence. He tied his attacks into a new campaign motto, that "Trump will fix it."

“On issue after issue Kamala broke it but I will fix it," he said.

A celebrity spectacle

Trump staged the splashy rally in another late bid to generate media buzz and energize his base, which packed the 19,500-seat venue known for hosting some of the biggest celebrities, musicians and sports figures.

The spectacle included former wrestler Hulk Hogan waving an American flag on stage, conservative media personality Tucker Carlson recounting seeing The Grateful Dead in the same arena and talk show host Dr. Phil arguing Trump isn’t a bully. Dr. Phil and Hulk Hogan were surprise, unannounced speakers.

Trump also was joined by former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani, entrepreneur Elon Musk, former Democrats-turned-endorsers Robert F. Kennedy Jr and Tulsi Gabbard, his running mate J.D. Vance, Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White, his wife and two oldest sons.

Trump said he wouldn't let Kennedy, a longtime environmentalist, "go too crazy... with the oil and gas stuff" but planned to let the anti-vaccine advocate "go wild on health. I'm going to let him go wild on the food. I'm going to let him go wild on the medicines."

Vivek Ramaswamy, who ran against Trump in the GOP primary, told the crowd that he heard from a billionaire friend Sunday morning questioning why the former president is holding an event in New York. The friend said: “why in the hell are you guys wasting your time in New York City instead of going to a swing state,” Ramaswamy said.

His response: “New York is a swing state.” Trump lost New York by large margins in 2020 and 2016, but the crowd loved it.

After his big night in New York, Trump is kicking off his last full week of campaigning before Election Day with a series of swing state events. He starts with a rally Monday in Atlanta, Georgia, and continues to Allentown, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday and Green Bay, Wisconsin on Wednesday, where he’ll be joined by former Green Bay Packers legend Brett Favre.

New York roots

The former president's supporters camped out on the city streets for an event many saw as “historic” - the ultimate Trump rally.

It comes as polling averages show Trump and Harris locked in a race that is within two points nationally and in every swing state. The candidates are making a frenzied final push to get out the vote. Multiple speakers urged the crowd to “fight, fight, fight” – echoing Trump’s words on stage shortly after he was shot in an attempted assassination – and “vote, vote, vote.”

The jumbotron in the arena had “vote early!” permanently displayed over the speakers, showing how Trump has pivoted from criticizing early and mail voting, a move that may have cost him in 2020.

Sunday's rally speakers highlighted the storied history of Madison Square Garden to try and equate Trump with some of the other legends who have appeared there, from singer Elvis Presley to Hogan at the height of his professional wrestling fame.

In an arena that has seen many champions, “the greatest champion of them all,” is Trump, Vance said.

The venue has a special resonance for Trump, who grew up in New York City and built his real estate empire there. He has attended events at the Garden for decades, sitting ringside for boxing matches and UFC fights.

Speakers played up Trump’s New York roots. “The king of New York is back to reclaim the city that he built,” said Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. to raucous applause.

Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter in law, said the city teaches you “to be tough.”

Trump was impeached twice, indicted in four different criminal cases and blamed for inciting an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. For many at the rally, those were only signs of his toughness though, persisting in the face of what they described as unfair persecution.

“They don’t want to face Donald Trump at the ballot box so they’ll do anything they can, imprison him, kill him,” said Trump childhood friend David Rem.

Outside the rally, plenty of New Yorkers weren’t happy about the MAGA invasion.

Along Eighth Street, a woman with bright red hair dragged a cart with a banner saying “welcome to your Nazi rally.” Nearby, another woman with a “Stop Project 2025” headband waved a banner reading “Trump should be in prison" on one side and “Don the felon” on the other.

Some Trump critics even infiltrated the rally. Marty Nagel, an attorney who lives on the south shore of Long Island, is not a Trump fan, but he wore into the rally a red MAGA hat to blend in. He wanted to witness the scene in person.

"I'm concerned about the way the legal system is going to hold up to a Trump victory or a Trump loss and I'm here to bare witness," Nagel said.

Reporter Josh Meyer contributed

(This story has been updated with more information and new headlines and photos.)

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump's Madison Square Garden rally faces backlash over comedian's riff