Hate reaches its apex in MSG

The ghost of Willis Reed is surely crying

Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” at last night’s Trump rally at Madison Square Garden -Screengrab via PBS

I hadn’t intended to write anything for a few more days, but after last night’s hatefest in Madison Square Garden, I can scarcely contain myself.

The campaign of former president Donald Trump decided it had not yet offended enough people deeply enough. So at one of its last major campaign events before the Nov. 5 election, the campaign (if you want to call it that) vetted and assembled a cast of degenerates in New York to run down women and Puerto Ricans, often in the most vulgar and hateful terms imaginable.

One of the worst offenders was a piece of human scum, a comedian named Tony Hinchcliffe, who went out of his way to attack people who live in Puerto Rico, a territory that has been a part of the United States since the Spanish-American War in 1898:

There’s a lot going on. I don’t know if you guys know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.

And then there was this gem:

These Latinos, they love making babies, too. Just know that they do. There’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They come inside, just like they did to our country.

Then, as reported by the New York Times, which headlined its story “A Closing Carnival of Grievances, Misogyny and Racism,” Hinchcliffe “mocked … Jews as cheap and Palestinians as rock-throwers.” He also “joked” about how Black Americans might prefer carving watermelons instead of pumpkins this Halloween.

In case you were lucky enough to miss it but still want to hold your nose and taste it, here is the video of the entire sordid six-hour affair:

Tucker Carlson referred to the biracial Kamala Harris as “a Samoan Malaysian low-IQ” candidate. Former congressional candidate David Rem called Harris the “antichrist” and “the devil,” while others lashed out at Hillary Clinton, “illegals” and homeless people.

Top Trump aide Stephen Miller, a white nationalist in his own right, proclaimed “America is for Americans and Americans only.” In the wry words of Bill Kristol of The Bulwark, “Somewhere backstage, Elon Musk and Melania Trump waited for their turn to speak.”

“They also tried to take his life,” Miller said, referring evidently to the two assassination attempts on Trump. It’s not clear who “they” are. Immigrants, Democrats, communists? Perhaps “they” is just “the other” — people who have not been surrendered to the Trump cult.

Not to be outdone, Trump himself engaged in his usual blistering anti-immigrant rhetoric, concluding that the United States is “an occupied country.” Occupied by whom, you ask? We are all left to wonder …

But Trump later clarified: “A lot of people are coming from the Congo prisons.”

Some Republicans, such as Florida Sen. Rick Scott, who represents about 1 million Puerto Rican Americans living in the Sunshine State, distanced themselves from the filth:

Speaking of clarifications, several hours later, the Trump campaign released a statement on Hinchcliffe’s bilge: “This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.” That’s it? What about the rest of the night? Evidently, the Trump campaign is fine with it.

None of this should come as any great surprise to anyone who has been paying attention all along for, as Charlie Sykes put it:

Pure Undiluted Trumpism

What we saw was pure, undiluted Trumpism. It was Trump’s id in an endless loop.

As for the implications for the campaign, of all the states that are must-wins for both Harris and Trump, Pennsylvania (and its 19 electoral votes) is perhaps the crown jewel. The Keystone State has an estimated 400,000 to 500,000 residents of Puerto Rican heritage.

Recent polling averages I have seen show Trump leading by less than a percentage point in Pennsylvania. If Trump winds up losing that state (and the presidency), last night’s hatefest in the hallowed halls lorded over by the ghost of Willis Reed would be among the worst cases of political malpractice in my lifetime.