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Trump attacked Harris, avoided mentioning racism and Jan. 6
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Trump attacked Harris, avoided mentioning racism and Jan. 6

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WASHINGTON – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump He implemented a policy of avoidance in Pennsylvania on Tuesday.

During the 80-minute rally in Allentown, Trump did not discuss allegations of racism stemming from his rally on Sunday. Madison Square Gardenbut praised Latino and Puerto Rican voters.

He didn’t discuss it for long. Vice President Kamala Harris Competing speech accusing him of being a threat to democracy and abetting the January 6, 2021 insurrection.

Instead, he continued his standard attacks on Harris and urged his supporters to get out and vote. “We’re going to win the whole deal,” Trump said.

After Trump and his allies shot Joe Biden It sparked a reaction from Republicans By appearing to slap Trump’s supporters. The president later said the former president was referring to offensive jokes at his weekend rally.

Here are USA TODAY’s top takeaways from Trump’s campaign stops on Tuesday:

Trump: Puerto Ricans and Latinos love me

without mentioning insults of a comedian Speaking about Puerto Rico at a Madison Square Garden event, Trump rallied the Latino community and brought some prominent Latinos onto the stage in Allentown to testify his support for the island.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. and Zoraida Buxo, a “shadow senator” who represents Puerto Rico in Congress but has no voting rights, praised Trump to the crowd.

“I’m so proud that we have more support from Latinos than we’ve ever had before… no one loves our Latino community and our Puerto Rican community more than I do,” Trump said. “I have done more for Puerto Rico than any other president.”

The Trump administration faced harsh criticism for its response to Hurricane Maria in 2017, which killed nearly 3,000 people, destroyed communities and forced some residents to flee.

An inspector general’s report found that tensions within the Republican administration led to delays in disbursing congressionally approved funds.

‘I’ve never heard of you’

In an interview recorded Tuesday, Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity that he did not know the comedian who made derogatory jokes about Puerto Rico.

In his warm-up speech at the rally in New York on Sunday, funny Tony Hinchcliffe he said: “I don’t know if you know this, but there’s a trash island literally floating in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.”

Hinchcliffe and others also made crude jokes about Latinos, Blacks and women.

Asked about Hinchcliffe in his interview with Hannity, Trump said he had “never heard of him.”

“Someone said there was a comedian who made jokes about Puerto Rico and I have no idea who he is, I’ve never seen him, I’ve never heard of him and I don’t want to hear his name.”

Hannity also asked Trump if he wanted the comedian “not to be there.” Trump said he wasn’t sure if it was “a big deal” but added: “I don’t want anyone making bad or stupid jokes. They probably shouldn’t have been there.”

Latinos matter in Pennsylvania, and Pennsylvania matters a lot to Trump

While Latino leaders condemned Trump for his “trash” remarks and other insults at the rally, the Republican candidate could not have chosen a more sensitive city for the rally: Allentown, with a large Latino population.

Republican consultant Mike Madrid said there are 450,000 Puerto Rican voters in Pennsylvania and about 33,500 in Allentown alone. Those numbers are big enough to make a difference in Pennsylvania, a state that both Trump and Harris’ campaigns will likely need to carry if they want to win the election.

“Racial slurs at Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden could cost him the election,” said Madrid, author of “The Latino Century: How America’s Largest Minority is Transforming Democracy.”

‘Garbage time’

After being called to the stage in Allentown, Rubio Joe Biden’s comments Trump was seen attacking his supporters, calling them “trash” and causing the crowd to boo.

Trump joined in, calling Biden’s comments “terrible.” He compared them to Hillary Clinton’s comments in 2016, when she called some Trump supporters “deplorables.”

Biden said he was just talking about the offending comedian. The White House also released a transcript Tuesday night that attempted to clarify that the president was referring to Hinchcliffe’s action.

“His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable,” the president told X. “That’s all I wanted to say. The comments at that rally do not reflect who we are as a nation.”

There is no mention of January 6

Trump took several sharp jabs at Harris on Tuesday night but did not directly reference her competing speech to an estimated crowd of 75,000 at The Ellipse. This is the same speech Trump gave on January 6, 2021, before a group of his supporters stormed the Capitol building in an attempt to prevent the certification of the 2020 election.

“He is the person who stood on this very spot almost four years ago and sent an armed mob into the U.S. Capitol,” Harris said. Harris added that in her speech, Trump signaled that he would pardon many people if elected president. He was convicted of the January 6 crimes.

In Pennsylvania, Trump did not discuss his actions on January 6 but condemned Harris’ allies for calling her a Nazi and fascist.

Calling it “desperation,” Trump also blamed it on “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” which he and his allies often joke about.

Trump talks crowd size, exaggerates polls

Trump didn’t just criticize Harris’ remarks on Tuesday. He also accused, without evidence, Harris’ campaign of driving crowds to Washington for her Tuesday speech.

He also disparaged Harris’ campaign celebrities, such as Beyoncé, who joined the vice president for a rally in Texas last week.

“He didn’t sing,” Trump joked.

While Harris was speaking to an estimated crowd of 75,000 at The Ellipse in Washington, Trump was speaking to a venue of 10,000 for the concerts, with a few patches of empty seats as the evening progressed.

The former president also exaggerated 2024 election polls during his Pennsylvania rally, claiming large margins in the state and other swing states like Michigan.

In fact surveys show quite a lot of dead heat all seven battleground states.

That aside, Trump tells his supporters: “We will beat Kamala Harris and the media.”

Yet Trump often says he will only talk about the good polls and ignore the bad polls. He also questioned the validity of the polls, telling podcast host Joe Rogan during an interview last week: “I don’t know a single person in my life that’s been called out by a pollster.”

Trump paved the way for fraud allegations

During the rally, Trump also made baseless claims that Democrats were committing election fraud in the 2024 White House race.

The former president claimed that one district had already been “caught” despite his misrepresentation of what was happening. Lancaster County officials announced an investigation after workers flagged nearly 2,500 voter registration forms as suspected of potential fraud. No detection was made.

Trump also addressed other complaints in other parts of Pennsylvania these are not proven.

The former president has long said, without evidence, that voter fraud influenced the outcome of the 2020 race for the White House. He launched a legal battle in states across the country after Election Day four years ago, but all of his fraud allegations were rejected by the courts.

He currently faces federal criminal charges and state-level charges in Georgia for his allegations of attempting to overturn the election.

Last days of Trump rallies

Trump reflected on the 2024 presidential campaign during his Allentown speech, telling the crowd he was in the final week of political rallies that have defined his political career since he announced his first presidential campaign in June 2015.

Win or lose, Trump, 78, claimed this was his last campaign. He spoke wistfully of how staffers would work on other campaigns in four years and how much he would miss the raucous rallies that helped define three presidential campaigns.

Trump said it was “a special journey for all of us.”