CNN
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Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden in New York began with a series of profane attacks on Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton, other Democratic leaders, Puerto Rico and migrants hiding in the city.

Local Trump loyalists, who were on the event’s speaker list ahead of the former president, took the opportunity to air familiar grievances against some of the former president’s favorite targets. For example, one failed Republican House candidate called Harris “the antichrist.”

The meeting started with Tony Hinchcliffe, a comedian and podcast host, attacking Puerto Rico – the city that has the largest Puerto Rican population on the US mainland. About 500,000 Puerto Ricans also live in battleground Pennsylvania, where Harris campaigned on Sunday.

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

The line was well received by Trump supporters who filled Madison Square Garden in Midtown Manhattan. Trump recently called the US “a garbage can for the world” as he railed against undocumented immigrants.

Harris’ campaign seized the moment, quickly cutting the video and posting it to social media channels. The vice president visited a Puerto Rican restaurant in North Philadelphia on Sunday, where she discussed her vision for the island, along with plans to reduce costs and create opportunities in Puerto Rican communities on the mainland.

Pop superstar Bad Bunny, whose album Un Verano Sin Ti was the most streamed album worldwide in 2023, with 4.5 billion plays on streaming platform Spotify, posted a video of Harris laying out her plan for Puerto Rico to his 45 million Instagram followers shortly after Hinchcliffe left the stage.

Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida, whose re-election campaign relies on significant support from the state’s Puerto Rican community, joined the backlash, writing about the “joke” on X: “It’s not funny and it’s not true . Puerto Ricans are great people and great Americans!”

Hinchcliffe also addressed the furor on social media, saying his critics ‘have no sense of humour’.

“I love Puerto Rico and my holidays there. I made fun of everyone…watch the whole set,” he wrote.

He was followed, among others, by Republican politician David Rem, who called Harris “the devil” and “the antichrist” while waving a cross.

“She is the antichrist,” Rem lamented, before saying he wanted to run for mayor.

Another speaker, radio host Sid Rosenberg — who once occupied a plum seat next to Don Imus on WFAN, the area’s largest sports station — began by attacking Clinton, the Democratic nominee of eight years ago.

“She’s a sick bastard, that Hillary Clinton, isn’t she?” he said, channeling Trump’s own past comments. ‘What a sick son of ab*tch.’

Rosenberg then turned his attention to migrants now living in New York City — and his anger at local government efforts to feed and house them.

“You have homeless people and veterans – Americans, Americans – sleeping on their own feces on a bench in Central Park,” Rosenberg said. “But the damn illegals, they get what they want, don’t they?”