ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — He has been called by some allies to apologize for racist comments made by speakers at a weekend rally. Donald Trump On Tuesday, he took the opposite approach, saying it was “an honor to be involved” in such an event and describing the scene as a “lovefest” — the same term he used to describe the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Trump gathered supporters and reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort two days after the incident. Big rally at Madison Square Garden It featured a number of crude remarks from various speakers, including one set by. comedian Tony Hinchcliffe He joked that Puerto Rico was a “floating island of garbage.” Some of Trump’s leading Republican allies condemned the remarks, and his campaign took the rare step of publicly distancing itself from Hinchcliffe’s joke, though other comments did not.

But when given the opportunity to apologize at multiple events and interviews on Tuesday, Trump instead bowed. Speaking at his resort in Florida, he said “there has never been a more beautiful event” than the Sunday rally in his hometown of New York.

“The love in that room. “It was breathtaking,” he said. “It was like a love fest, a total love fest. And it was an honor to be involved.

He told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Tuesday night that he didn’t know anything about Hinchcliffe, but added, “I can’t imagine it being a big deal.” However, he later admitted that he “probably shouldn’t have been there”.

just a week ago Election DaySome of Trump’s allies have raised alarm that the rally, which was expected to highlight the Republican presidential candidate’s closing message in stately New York style, was instead serving as a distraction. even responsibilitygiven Electoral importance of Puerto Ricans Residents of Pennsylvania and other major states.

“This is not the time for anyone to be criticizing Puerto Rico or criticizing Latinos,” former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who challenged Trump for the GOP presidential nomination and later endorsed him, said in an interview on Fox News Channel.

Trump later held a rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, which has a large Hispanic population. He was joined here by Zoraida Buxo, Puerto Rico’s shadow U.S. senator, and defended the former president’s record.

“We need this man to be our commander in chief,” said Buxo, who cannot vote in the Senate because Puerto Rico is not a state. “It will make us feel safe and protect us.”

Still, there was anger in Allentown. Ivet Figueroa, 61, stood in front of the rally site with a trash can marked “Trash Trump.”

He said of the insult and Trump: “The person who said it has been vetted by himself. So he allowed this to happen, so he needs to take responsibility for what he said. It’s too late to say ‘I’m sorry’ now. “I don’t want an apology, I want justice and justice is on November 5.”

The fallout from the Madison Square Garden incident risked highlighting voters’ concerns about Trump’s rhetoric and propensity for debate as both campaigns scramble for votes. Speakers at the rally also made racist comments targeting Latinos, Blacks, Jews and Palestinians, as well as sexist slurs directed at Trump’s Democratic rival, the Vice President. Kamala Harrisand former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

In an interview with ABC News earlier Tuesday, Trump claimed he did not know Hinchcliffe but did not condemn what he said.

“I don’t know him. Someone put it there. “I don’t know who he is,” Trump said, insisting he had not heard Hinchcliffe’s comments. When asked what he thought of them, Trump “did not take the opportunity to condemn them and repeated that he had not heard the comments,” ABC reported.

In the Hannity interview, Trump said people were trying to make a “big deal” about the comedian’s appearance “when it has nothing to do with the party, nothing to do with us.”

Asked later in the interview if he wished the comic wasn’t there, Trump said, “Yeah, I mean I don’t know if it’s a big deal, but I don’t want anyone making bad or stupid jokes.” He added, “He probably shouldn’t have been there, yeah.”

Later Tuesday, President Joe Biden condemned the comic’s prank in a call organized by the Hispanic advocacy group Voto Latino, saying: “I see the only garbage floating out there are his supporters.” Later I tried to clarify your comment.He said he was talking about “hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico being spread by Trump’s supporter.”

The comments at the Madison Square Garden rally sparked outrage from Puerto Rican leaders.

Puerto Rico’s archbishop called on Trump to deny them, saying it wasn’t enough for the campaign to say the joke did not reflect Trump’s views. The chairman of the Puerto Rican Republican Party called Hinchcliffe’s “poor attempt at comedy” “embarrassing, ignorant, and utterly reprehensible.”

In Pennsylvania, where Trump campaigned Tuesday night, the Latino voter population has nearly tripled since 2000. More than half of them are Puerto Rican voters.

Former Republican Angelo Ortega, a longtime Allentown resident who plans to vote for Harris, said he couldn’t believe what he was hearing about Trump’s rally.

“I don’t know if my jaw dropped or if I was just angry or angry. I didn’t know what to feel,” said Ortega, who was born in New York but whose father is Puerto Rican. Ortega is campaigning for Harris and said he knows of at least one Hispanic GOP voter planning to switch from Trump to Harris as a result of Hinchcliffe’s comments.

“They lived through it. They experienced this. They were listening (to Trump), but they thought it was like the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said Ortega, a member of the advocacy group Make the Road PA.

Still, some voters of Puerto Rican descent were unimpressed. Maricelis Torres, a 24-year-old waitress who is studying to be a radiologist, waited to attend the Allentown rally and said she and her family laughed at Hinchcliffe’s joke.

“If you don’t understand humor, that’s what I’m saying, people are too soft these days,” said Torres, whose father is an islander.

Harris’ campaign released an ad to run online in battleground states targeting Puerto Rican voters and highlighting the comedian’s remarks.

At a roundtable Tuesday afternoon outside Philadelphia, Trump received praise from retired Puerto Rican occupational therapist Maribel Valdez. “Puerto Rico stands behind you, and Puerto Rico loves you,” Valdez told him.

Trump thanked him and reminded him of his administration’s efforts to help the island in the wake of the storms. “I don’t think any president has done more for Puerto Rico than I have,” Trump said. delayed publication Billions of dollars in aid to repair years of hurricane damage in Puerto Rico until shortly before the 2020 election.

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