Republican racist rally is the newest proof of a campaign-torn nation in meltdown
DURING a few days in New York last week I saw for myself just how far removed reality is from the racism at Saturday’s night’s Republican rally in Madison Square Garden.
Whatever your politics, to spend a few days in the US right now is to gain a snapshot of the sky-high temperature of a country in meltdown.
From politicians prepared to dismiss the comments from Trump’s former chief of staff John Kelly – who last week claimed Donald actually praised Hitler – to Kamala Harris’ belief she can win votes from the Muslims across America who are dismayed she won’t back them amid the cycle of blood in the Middle East.
Newspaper columnists at respected title The Washington Post have resigned over its refusal to endorse Harris against Trump. The Los Angeles Times has been similarly slammed for doing likewise. Critics have accused it of running scared in case Trump is elected and “abandoning its civic responsibility at a moment when the United States faces its most consequential presidential election since the Civil War”.
So emboldened are Trump supporters, there are even T-shirts on sale in Times Square with pictures of him in crosshairs and the slogan, aimed at Harris: “You missed, b**ch”.
Many of the locals and tourists I pestered for an opinion last week (at one point, my wife and kids threatened to disown me!) admitted feeling that neither candidate represented them.
What might just have pushed some over the edge was Saturday night’s “racist rally” (so-called on the front page of Monday’s New York Daily News) at Madison Square Garden.
There, Trump promised to launch “the largest deportation program in American history” if he wins back the presidency.
Much of what emerged from the event was so reprehensible it had to be seen on social media to be believed. One speaker, podcaster Tony Hinchcliffe, described Puerto Rico – home to 3.2m US citizens – as an “island of garbage”.
Hinchcliffe also suggested Latinos “loved making babies” following up with a related remark too offensive for this column, and drew on a racist trope to make further disparaging remarks about Black people and watermelons.
Puerto Rican superstar Ricky Martin, who has more than 18m followers on Instagram, has already responded on the platform, saying: “This is what they think of us. Vote for @kamalaharris.”
Two more of the world’s top Latin celebrities, singer Jennifer Lopez and Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny, endorsed Harris. The Trump campaign, in a rare move, distanced itself from the Puerto Rico joke with a statement. But these things don’t happen by accident.
These speakers are vetted, their language is vetted. You kinda know what you’re going to get when you invite an individual (I’m not calling him a comedian) with a history of causing offence to speak at your globally televised event.
For his own part, Trump’s sustained bid to whip up fear continued with his claim that a “savage Venezuelan prison gang” had “taken over Times Square” – which came as a surprise to me, my family and hundreds of others as we enjoyed the half-term sunshine there.
But, as Michelle Obama said in her outstanding speech in Michigan on Saturday night, Trump enjoys a free pass from TV analysts, critics and voters who pull apart every sane, well-articulated pronouncement or policy from his opposite number Harris
No wonder he once claimed he “could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters”. We are at a scary juncture in global politics right now. However bad things might seem, Trump’s stated aim is that they will get a whole lot worse if he takes office.
I was gutted not to get to the sporting cathedral that is Madison Square Garden to catch an event during my time there in New York – but now I know that turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
