Pennsylvania is a pivotal state because of the electoral college system, and the majority of the state’s 580,000 eligible Latino voters are from Puerto Rico.
By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on November 4, 2024.
OTTAWA—Bromance may cost Donald Trump the election.
In a plea to Trump supporters, former Trump opponent Nikki Haley told Fox News that the male-only pitch and the use of the C-word in PAC ads attacking Kamala Harris were hurting the former president’s campaign.
She also underscored a huge mistake in the Trump campaign strategy.
While Haley was the last person standing in the nomination process against Trump, she quickly got on board and offered her help.
She revealed in the media last week that while she has been involved in fundraising mail and calls, she has not been asked to join in a single rally.
Instead, Trump’s major final event at Madison Square Gardens featured the kind of supporters who would appeal to the angry young men who are already in the former president’s camp.
The event was dominated by former wrestlers, comics, and other supporters, most of whom were unknown to the general public.
Instead of reaching out to women and minorities, the Trump-approved guest list at the New York event may actually cost him the election.
Former Trump supporter and well-known Latino broadcaster Geraldo Rivera called the insulting comments made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe a “seminal” moment which will cost the Trump team dearly in Puerto Rican support and amongst other Latinos.
Hinchcliffe is now a household name. He may go down in history as the man who took Trump down. During the six-hour long rally, Hinchcliffe got a roar from the audience when he referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage” and said Latinos “love making babies.”
Another presenter referred to Harris as a prostitute whose pimps are helping in her campaign.
The disastrous comments garnered immediate reaction in the Latino community with famous rapper Bad Bunny endorsing Harris immediately after the Hinchcliffe meltdown. The rapper’s official name is Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, and he was born in Puerto Rico. He has 45 million followers on Instagram.
His endorsement could go a long way in reversing the hike in Trump support amongst Latinos compared to 2016.
That increase has played very well for Trump in some states where the margin between the two candidates is less than two per cent.
Ricky Martin, another Puerto Rican, immediately sent out this message to his 18 million Instagram followers: “this is what they think of us. Vote for @kamalaharris.”
And the tight race between the two presidential candidates on the eve of the election means that a one- or two-point shift could actually change the election’s outcome.
Pennsylvania is a pivotal state because of the electoral college system, and the majority of the state’s 580,000 eligible Latino voters are from Puerto Rico.
The gaffe opened the door for Harris to remind voters how Trump pitched paper towels and little else in the aftermath of the worst natural disaster to hit Puerto Rico in 2017 when Hurricane Maria claimed 2,975 lives.
It was widely reported that federal funding to states that voted for Trump was quicker and more fulsome than relief received by Puerto Rico.
To make matters worse, Trump staff did not issue an immediate repudiation of the comedian.
Instead of responding to multiple requests for a retraction, Trump doubled down, telling the media “there’s never been an event so beautiful. … The love in that room. It was breathtaking. It was like a lovefest, an absolute lovefest.”
It took him 48 hours before he appeared on Trump-friendly Fox News to say that Hinchcliffe probably shouldn’t have been at the rally.
But the other question, unanswered by Trump, is why, in the major rally of his campaign, he refused to reach out to known Republicans like Haley in an effort to court the vote of women.
Haley told Fox News that the Trump team’s approach is alienating women voters. “Fifty-three per cent of the electorate are women. Women will vote. They care about how they’re being talked to, and they care about the issues.”
Harris moved quickly to post Haley’s comments on her social media outlets.
Trump’s attempt to “bromance” those whose support he has already solidly secured is a strategy alienating the very women he needs to secure his return to government.
Strategically, even Republican spokespeople have sought to distance themselves from the racist, misogynistic mess left in the wake of the final Trump rally in New York.
If Geraldo is right, and this seminal moment determines the election, it underscores the reality that campaigns count.
And women power is here to stay—even in the White House.
Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.
