As the fallout from Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally spread through Monday, even some of the candidate’s closest allies began to complain about a series of racist, misogynistic and vulgar remarks the former president made ahead of his speech.

At best, they say, the rally was a missed opportunity to make a persuasive closing statement. At worst it was emblematic of an undisciplined campaign; if anything, it was a darker sign of a movement that stirred some of his threatening impulses.

John Fredericks, a conservative radio host and Trump ally, said the casting of radio host Sid Rosenberg and comedian Tony Hinchcliffe in particular was “stupid” and that they “should have been examined better.”

“Here, instead of the 100,000 people there, the tremendous speeches, the love for President Trump, the spectacular closing of the Trump campaign, we’re talking about two obscure individuals who have nothing to do with this election,” Fredericks said. in question. Madison Square Garden can seat about 20,000 people, but thousands more than that lined up to get into the rally.

Meanwhile, Peter Navarro, a former administration official and campaign surrogate, angrily declared that the comedian was “tone-deaf” and in “bad taste” during the final stretch of the election, while former 2016 Trump campaign adviser David Urban called it “unfortunate,” although “death to the campaign.” Even though he says, “it doesn’t mean bell.”

One day after the rally, rude and racist comments made by some guests during the pre-show continue to reverberate throughout the campaign. The former president’s Republican allies were forced to publicly defend the island nation and condemn the comments. Puerto Ricans in the critical battleground state of Pennsylvania plan to protest Trump’s rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday. And Harris campaign cuts new digital ad on the rally comments and events were held with Latino representatives in Philadelphia.

With less than a week until Election Day, the race is reshaping its final stretch and early voting is underway across the country.

“The October surprise was apparently a presidential campaign committing mass political suicide onstage at MSG,” said New Hampshire Republican strategist Matthew Bartlett.

For the one-night event at the famous arena, Trump’s campaign essentially put together a mini Republican National Convention; but it didn’t have the typical guardrails of a major political party event, such as vetted speeches.

Hinchcliffe’s name was not on the original list of speakers sent out by the campaign, but the campaign did include speakers including Hinchcliffe, Hulk Hogan, Dr. It featured special guests including Phil McGraw and Melania Trump.

Known for his insult comedy and angering celebrities, Hinchcliffe’s jokes were not vetted or scrutinized ahead of the rally, according to two people familiar with the situation granted anonymity to discuss the situation.

Hinchliffe’s joke about Puerto Rico was not among the remarks uploaded to the teleprompter, according to a person with knowledge of the rally’s logistics, but it was unclear how many of the offensive comments made Sunday were already included in the speakers’ scripts.

The reaction to his remarks, which included offensive remarks about black people, Jews and Palestinians, differs in at least one important way from the reaction to the vulgar “Access Hollywood” recording released toward the end of the 2016 campaign. At the time, a third of Senate Republicans expressed their disapproval of Trump, hurting him badly and prompting a taped response from him. But now even among them 18 members Neither Republican Hispanic Conference reached POLITICO.

Speaking at a rally in Wausau, Wisconsin, Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance, acknowledged that “maybe it was a stupid, racist joke.” But he did not condemn it, claiming he “didn’t see the joke”.

“I think it shows that Kamala Harris’s closing message actually means that the people who voted for Donald Trump are all Nazis and that you should be really angry at a comedian making a joke,” Vance said. “This is not the message of a winning campaign and, most importantly, it is not the message of a person fit to be president of the United States.”

But the racist taunts and vulgarities also created an opportunity to hammer home the message the Harris campaign has been exploring for days: Harris has a to-do list, while Trump has a list of enemies. Harris said Trump’s rally was “fixated and focused on grievances about him and dividing the country.”

Speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews before heading to events in Michigan, Harris said the remarks did not shed new light on Trumpism. “What he did last night wasn’t a discovery, it was just more of the same,” he said.

On this issue, Arizona Republican strategist Barrett Marson agrees.

“There was more noise in the ‘Trump is a dangerous and evil person’ narrative,” he said. “But who didn’t know that? This is just the 732nd example of Trump being divisive and un-American. Does it change someone’s mind? I don’t think so. Is it wrong? Is it painful? Certainly. IT not different.”

By tacit admission, the rally did not achieve the campaign’s own goal; the campaign moved away from a comedian mocking Puerto Ricans but also reminded reporters that Trump had announced a new tax cut for family caregivers during his speech; religion. Trump campaign email subject line: “ICYMI: ‘Donald Trump announced new tax cut for family caregivers at Madison Square Garden rally.'”

Of course it was easy to miss. Hours before Trump’s speech, a series of speakers discussed racist and misogynistic stereotypes.

“Whoever thought he was good to book misjudged the room,” Urban said of Kill Tony podcast host Tony Hinchcliffe. “They didn’t, and probably couldn’t, guess that this guy would say something crazy?”

However, it wasn’t just one speaker or one joke that derailed the event’s message, and not all of the offending remarks were obvious jokes. Businessman Grant Cardone called Harris “pimp handlers,” while Trump’s childhood friend David Rem called Harris the “anti-Christ.”

The Trump campaign did not respond to messages from POLITICO on Monday asking whether Trump agreed with the content of those remarks.

“If it were me, running the campaign, I would want Grant Cardone to talk about his economic opportunities and how he helps people create wealth — color the lines,” Urban said. “If your childhood friend was Donald Trump, I would talk about what a great guy he is and how he hasn’t changed at all since he was a kid. “I would focus on the positives and not stray outside of your area of ​​expertise.”

Representative Byron Donalds Black (R-Fla.), who spoke at Sunday’s event, told POLITICO it was Democrats who were “making the race angry because they knew they were going to lose.”

He said: “If you let a comic decide what your game is going to be, I think that’s wrong. Donald Trump is focused on the American people.”

He said Harris’ response was a sign of a campaign looking for something to stop their free fall.

“Kamala Harris still can’t talk about what to do. Donalds, who is running for a third term in Congress, said, “All he wants is to call Donald Trump Hitler.”

Shortly after the rally, the Trump campaign distanced itself from Hinchcliffe’s remarks.

Harrison Fields, Trump’s surrogate who is both Black and of Puerto Rican descent, said he was considering it as a check on Harris’ battlefield failures in Pennsylvania, which is home to nearly half a million people of Puerto Rican descent.

“They have a problem in Pennsylvania,” Fields said. “I think a lot of this revolves around the Puerto Rican or Hispanic vote. You also have a big problem in Pennsylvania when you talk about Jewish votes. So what are they weaponizing…this Hitler rhetoric and now they are doing the same things the Spanish did.”

In a campaign where every unfolding event has become a Rorschach test of sorts, all the housekeeping around this campaign struck Fredericks, the radio host and Trump ally, as a wasted day with few left behind.

“I think it’s going to be a tempest in the kettle at the end of the day, but we’ve got eight days left, we shouldn’t waste 10 seconds on this and right now we’re wasting a day,” Fredericks said. he said.

Daniella Diaz contributed to this report.