On Sunday, at a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York, Donald Trump and his supporters delivered their closing arguments. It started with offensive, identitarian jokes straight from the 80s; continued with a shout to a black man regarding watermelon; and suggested at one point that Kamala Harris, the vice president of the United States, was a sex worker. Along the way, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic and xenophobic comments were aired, including this gem from Trump adviser Stephen Miller: “America is for Americans and only for Americans. »

The vitriolic event included some choice lines about Latinos from Tony Hinchcliffe, the comedian chosen by the Trump campaign to kick off the event. Hinchcliffe, who is also a podcaster, began with juvenile sex jokes about Latinos — “They love making babies” — before describing Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.”

As a Nuyorican — what New Yorkers in the Puerto Rican diaspora affectionately call us — I am deeply sensitive to any mention of the island and my people. And for most of this campaign, little has been said. So it was a surprise to see that on the same day that Hinchcliffe spoke at Madison Square Garden, Vice President Harris released a video outlining her plan for Puerto Rico and visited a Puerto Rican restaurant while on the campaign trail in Philadelphia.

The coincidence was fortuitous, as it gave Puerto Ricans a real-time split screen. Many saw Harris attempting to learn and address the concerns of Puerto Ricans; Trump showed that he was only willing to welcome Latinos into his tent if they were complicit in his racist worldview. The language used at the Trump rally “was so simple, and it showed very sincerely how they really felt,” Paola Ramos, author of Defectors: The Rise of the Latino Far Right and What It Means for Americatold me.

After receiving backlash over the “garbage island” remark, the Trump campaign attempted to distance itself. (As everyone knows, Harris is responsible for everything people around her do, but Trump is innocent even of the things he was convicted of.) “This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump ” said a campaign representative. said.

Even as the campaign attempts to disavow Hinchcliffe’s joke, it cannot avoid the fact that this language only reinforces the sense of contempt that Puerto Ricans already felt from Trump. The insult gave Democrats the perfect opportunity to remind Latino voters — and Puerto Ricans in particular — of what Harris brought up in her video: Trump’s anemic and insulting response to islanders after Hurricane Maria in 2017.

Excerpt from the November 2022 issue: May Puerto Rico be free

Hurricane Harvey had hit Texas a month earlier; there, FEMA had approved $142 million in individual aid to hurricane victims within nine days. Nine days after María, FEMA had approved only $6.2 million for Puerto Ricans. In Texas, there were many more helicopters, meals, water and government personnel. When then-President Trump finally visited the storm-ravaged island — nearly two weeks after the hurricane hit — he told residents they were lucky not to have endured ” a real disaster, like Katrina,” and that instead of a more significant disaster, the audience threw rolls of paper towels to the crowd at a media event.

This year, Puerto Rican celebrities, including Marc Anthony, have already worked to remind voters of all this while campaigning for Harris. After Sunday’s rally, Ricky Martin and Jennifer Lopez shared Harris’ video and announced they were voting for her. Lopez will appear with Harris tomorrow.

But none of these mentions are as important as that of musician Bad Bunny’s. Her fan base is huge and young, and includes both men and women. And unlike many stars who avoid addressing politics on their platforms, San Benito, as his fans call him, has placed politics, and particularly the politics of colonialism, at the heart of his art. He has been active in the run-up to Puerto Rico’s gubernatorial election, which will also take place on November 5, by buying billboards arguing that a vote for the ruling party is a vote for corruption. His opinion carries weight.

For months, as megawatt celebrities like Taylor Swift and Beyoncé have thrown their support behind Harris, I’ve heard people asking where Bad Bunny was. Why didn’t Bad Bunny help Harris? The answer seemed obvious to me: despite being an American citizen and a global superstar, Bad Bunny cannot vote in the presidential elections.

Bad Bunny resides in Puerto Rico, and disenfranchisement is just one of the many inequalities that define the islanders’ second-class citizenship. But even if Puerto Rican residents can’t vote, they can influence the diaspora on the mainland, which is possible. And that’s what Bad Bunny does.

After the Trump rally, Bad Bunny repeatedly shared a segment of Harris’ Puerto Rico video with his 45.7 million Instagram followers. Specifically, he selected the segment in which Harris says, “There’s so much at stake in this election for Puerto Rican voters and for Puerto Rico,” and where she reminds people of Trump throwing paper napkins at people there. island after the hurricane.

Harris’ plan for Puerto Rico involves creating what it calls an “opportunity economy” on the island by strengthening the power grid, providing clean energy credits to islanders and developing affordable housing, incentives to create jobs and investments in Puerto Rican entrepreneurs and creators, among several other major initiatives. His plan conspicuously sidesteps major colonial issues, such as repealing the Jones Act, a 100-year-old tariff on products and goods shipped to the island, which costs residents approximately $692 million per year. It also does not deal with the recovery Puerto Rico’s Self-Determination Act— a bill championed by Reps. Nydia Velázquez and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that would allow islanders to vote on Puerto Rico’s status as a commonwealth. However, Harris’ plan offers thoughtful solutions to many of the problems that have plagued the island, particularly in recent years, which is more than can be said of Trump.

The more the phrase “floating trash cans” is repeated – on television, on the radio – the angrier Puerto Ricans get. There are now more Puerto Ricans on the mainland than on the island. One result of the botched response to María was, ironically, the migration of thousands of islanders, many to swing states like Pennsylvania, where there are now almost half a million Puerto Rican residents. Tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans currently reside in Georgia and Arizona. Democratic strategist José Parra said The Hill that what happened at Madison Square Garden could make a real difference: “If Pennsylvania turns to the Democrats, I think you can look at that as a pivotal moment. »

Much has been made of Trump’s growing support among Latinos, and this offense is unlikely to influence any of his true supporters. But it could motivate some Latinos who had planned not to participate in the election. Victor Martinez, owner of a local Spanish-language radio station in Pennsylvania, said Policy that a large part of the community had been reluctant to vote. The Trump rally was a game changer. “If we weren’t engaged before, we’re all paying attention now” he said.

Puerto Ricans love their island, even those who have never had the chance to go there. Yes, there are stunning beaches, green mountains and the sound of the coqui. But what we love most is the warmth of our culture: the music, the dance, the food, the art, our people. It is a place that calls us when we are far away and embraces us when we come home. The joke wasn’t just an insult; it was a reminder of the neglect and disrespect the place and its residents have faced for decades at the hands of the United States government, and particularly under the Trump administration.

Once, when Bad Bunny was asked about his political involvement, he replied: “I don’t get involved in politics; politics enters my life because it affects my country, because it affects Puerto Rico.