Geraldo Rivera says he believes Donald Trump shot himself in the foot, badly, with his shocking rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
While the Republican presidential nominee and other allies made numerous offensive remarks at the event, one particularly racist comment set off a wave of backlash: Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”
The Trump campaign made the rare move of distancing itself from the comment, but the former president has lauded the rally as a “lovefest” and declined to apologize. The event was also perceived, even by Trump ally Megyn Kelly, to be a bit of a “bro-fest” that may have alienated women.
There are significant Puerto Rican populations in New York, Florida and Pennsylvania — a swing state that President Joe Biden won by just 80,000 votes in 2020.
Rivera, a former Fox News personality whose father was from Puerto Rico, suggested the incident has decimated Trump’s appeal to Puerto Rican voters, particularly women.
“It is impossible now, I believe, for President Trump to win that area, that Allentown corridor, where so many Puerto Ricans have settled in, in the key swing state of Pennsylvania,” he said on MSNBC’s “The Beat” on Tuesday.
“I think that this event has stopped Trump’s momentum toward the finish line,” he added. “Absolutely. I think it has reversed it, and I think that the polls from now on will show a gradual diminution of his support. This was a catastrophe for the Trump campaign, in my opinion.”
On Monday, Rivera denounced the racist joke and other extreme rhetoric pushed by Trump and his cronies, writing, “Fuck these racists.”
“Latino men of good will, have pride in yourselves and your ancestors. A vote for Trump is a vote against self-respect,” he added.