Editorial: Mad at Puerto Rico joke, where were Florida Republicans when Trump attacked Haitians?

Florida Republican officials were offended by a comedian’s racist and distasteful “joke” about Puerto Rico at Donald Trump’s rally in New York City on Sunday.

Miami’s U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar said she was “disgusted” by Tony Hinchcliffe’s words, calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, a former Miami-Dade County mayor, said it was “completely classless.” Florida U.S. Sen. Rick Scott said the joke “bombed.”

It’s a little too late for their outrage when those same Republicans continued to support and defend Trump as he accused immigrants of “poisoning the blood of our country,” among many other insults aimed at minority groups.

Even more to the point here in South Florida, where were those officials when the former president repeated a baseless and repeatedly debunked claim on the debate stage that Haitians were eating people’s pets in Springfield, Ohio?

Scott even gave credence to that vicious conspiracy theory. When asked about the “Haitians in Springfield, Ohio” during an interview with right-wing news outlet Breitbart News in September, Scott said, “Isn’t that scary for the people that live there?” He added that “We got a wonderful Haitian community in Florida,” but those tepid words aren’t enough from Florida’s senator.

Now, the outrage over comedian Hinchcliffe’s words — he also made the unoriginal and stereotyping joke that Latinos “love making babies” — feels opportunistic and selective. This is the moment Salazar chooses to write on X that “This rhetoric does not reflect GOP values” — after Trump spent months on the 2024 presidential campaign accusing immigrants of invading the country, spreading conspiracy theories and using pejoratives for opponents, such as “slow,” “extremely low IQ person” and “stupid,” words he’s used to describe Vice President Kamala Harris. That’s not only childish name-calling; it also reeks of racism and sexism.

Had Trump — and not a surrogate — called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage,” would his allies in Florida been as forceful in their rebuke, or would they do what they have done for this entire campaign: rationalize and justify Trump’s unjustifiable words? Would they have spoken up if there wasn’t the possibility that such comments and their repercussion might sway an election happening in a matter of days?

Puerto Ricans, born on an American territory, are U.S. citizens and allowed to vote in presidential elections if they move to the mainland U.S. With 5.8 million Puerto Ricans living in the country as of 2021, according to Pew Researc h, they represent a large share of the Latino electorate in swing states like Pennsylvania. In Florida, they are the second-largest bloc of Hispanic voters after Cuban-Americans.

The GOP has gone to great lengths to court Hispanic voters, seeing results in Democratic bastions in South Florida and, particularly, in Central Florida, where a lot of Puerto Ricans live. Haitians, meanwhile, have historically leaned more Democratic. Many are in the country on Temporary Protected Status and cannot vote, so they don’t rank as high on the GOP’s electoral priority list.

Given this political reality, it’s no wonder then that even the Trump campaign denounced Hinchcliffe’s words about Puerto Rico, saying they do not “reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.”

Trump’s true colors were seen in his comments about his hate-filled Sunday rally: “It was like a lovefest... It was my honor to be involved.” That’s the same Trump who, according to a former Department of Homeland Security official, once said Puerto Rico was “dirty” and wondered whether the American territory could be swapped for Greenland.

Puerto Ricans should not forget the images of then-President Trump tossing paper towel rolls to a crowd while visiting the island ravaged by Hurricane Maria in 2017.

We’ll buy Florida Republicans’ outrage when it’s across the board. Let’s hope that, from now on, they are as prompt to defend every group that is attacked by Trump and his sycophants.

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