Residents say a speaker calling Puerto Rico garbage before a packed Donald Trump rally in New York was the latest humiliation for an island territory that has long suffered from mistreatment.

Puerto Ricans cannot vote in general elections despite being U.S. citizens, but they can exert a powerful influence with relatives on the mainland. Phones across the island of 3.2 million people were ringing minutes after the speaker derided the U.S. territory Sunday night, and they still buzzed Monday.

Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris is competing with Trump to win over Puerto Rican communities in Pennsylvania and other swing states. Shortly after stand-up comic Tony Hinchcliffe said that, “I don’t know if you guys know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” Puerto Rican reggaeton superstar Bad Bunny announced he was backing Harris.

After Sunday’s rally, a senior adviser for the Trump campain, Danielle Alvarez, said in a statement that Hinchcliffe’s joke did “not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.”

  • ccdfa@lemm.ee
    2·
    22 days ago

    You can be a dual citizen and be living outside of the US and still vote. You can be an American citizen who has never lived in America and vote. It’s not about permanent residency at all.

    https://www.usa.gov/who-can-vote

    • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      22 days ago

      Good point. That said, the law is structured to allow people to get ballots from the “jurisdiction of their last residence.”