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Donald Trump struggled Monday to contain the scale of a violent backlash against racist rhetoric targeting Puerto Ricans at his weekend rally, just nine days before a presidential election that could be determined by the Latino vote.

The Republican sought to sharpen his closing speech and energize his base Sunday with the extravaganza at New York’s Madison Square Garden, but instead made news with a series of crude remarks from his allies during speeches warm-up.

Residents of Puerto Rico, a U.S. island in the Caribbean, are not allowed to vote in U.S. elections, but the diaspora living in the United States numbers nearly six million people and can vote, according to the Pew Research Center.

They could have significant influence in the critical state of Pennsylvania, which has the fourth largest concentration of Puerto Rican residents after Florida, New York and New Jersey.

“Who wants to tell these guys that there are HALF A MILLION Puerto Ricans living in Battleground PA, whose votes are up for grabs?” Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former Trump White House aide, posted on X.

During the rally, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe joked that the territory was a “floating island of garbage” and made other racist remarks about the reproductive habits of African Americans and Hispanic immigrants.

Other speakers made sexist and crude remarks about Harris, and their rhetoric overshadowed Trump’s big policy — a tax credit for home caregivers.

His campaign – which does not generally acknowledge missteps – did not respond to a request for comment, but told US media that the stupid joke did not reflect Trump’s views and that it had not verified the Hinchcliffe set.

In a perhaps powerful split screen, the scandal erupted as Harris spoke at a Puerto Rican restaurant in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s largest city, where she outlined her plans to strengthen the territory’s power grid.

Moments after Hinchcliffe’s remarks, Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny — one of the world’s biggest Hispanic celebrities — shared Harris’ plan with millions of followers on social media.

And Trump supporter and Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott, who is in a tight re-election race against a Latino congresswoman, was among a number of Republican politicians and strategists who expressed anger at X.

“This joke was bombed for a reason. It’s not funny and it’s not true,” he posted, while the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which has about three dozen members, called the gathering of “shameful”.

Harris, on the campaign trail in Michigan, told reporters the rally highlighted how Trump was “focused and really obsessed with his grievances, with himself and with the division of our country.”

“If he were elected, from day one he would sit in the Oval Office and work on his enemies list,” she said.

“On day one, if I am elected president of the United States, which I fully intend to do, I will work on behalf of the American people on my to-do list.”

Speaking to reporters as he voted Monday, President Joe Biden called the scandal “embarrassing” and “unbecoming of a president.”

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