Puerto Rico Is an “Island of Garbage”: Outrage Grows over Trump’s Racist & Xenophobic NYC Rally

In the final week ahead of the presidential election, Republican Donald Trump’s campaign is facing widespread backlash after his rally Sunday at Madison Square Garden, where conservative comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico “an island of garbage” and others leaned into racist and anti-immigrant rhetoric. We speak to journalist Jean Guerrero, who has published books on Trump’s white nationalist agenda and her own Latina and Puerto Rican identity. Trump is “seeking to restrict the notion of what it means to be American,” says Guerrero. Trump and his supporters are not only othering immigrants and people of color, she argues, but anyone who does not fit a narrow, right-wing view of citizenship. “If you are a liberal, if you believe in compassion and equality and freedom for all, you do not belong in Donald Trump’s America.”