KELLER, Texas — A North Texas mayor who was born in Puerto Rico says a comedian’s joke about the U.S. territory at a rally for former President Donald Trump this weekend hasn’t eroded his support for Trump.
Texas-based comedian and podcaster Tony Hinchcliffe, speaking at a rally for Trump at Madison Square Garden in New York this weekend, referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.”
Hinchcliffe’s other jokes Sunday ranged from the birth rates of Latinos to the debunked "eating dogs and cats" controversy in Ohio and to a swipe at the island nation of Puerto Rico.
The comments were quickly condemned, including by some Hispanic Republicans, Vice President and Democratic nominee for president Kamala Harris, a Dallas comedian who says he was the target of similar rhetoric during an encounter with Hinchcliffe in 2021, and the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny and Ricky Martin.
"It is absolutely something that is intended to and is fanning the fuel of trying to divide our country," Harris said.
But Keller Mayor Armin Mizani, an attorney who was elected mayor of the Tarrant County city in 2020 and says he was born and raised in Puerto Rico, took to social media Monday to explain his continued support for Trump.
“For Latinos, faith, family, and economic opportunity motivates us – not some bad joke by a comedian,” Mizani wrote. “Under the Biden and Harris administration, Americans have seen record inflation, an open southern border, increased crime, the weakening of the family structure, and the taking away of God from our daily lives. In contrast, under President Trump, Americans saw secured borders, economic prosperity, a respect for people of faith, and a respect for American values.”
Trump himself, though, has also since sought to distance himself from Hinchcliffe’s comments with the Republican nominee telling ABC News “I don’t know him, someone put him up there” and a spokesperson saying the “joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” according to media reports.
Keller has emerged as a GOP stronghold and the school board there voted to require teachers to use pronouns consistent with the biological sex listed on a student's birth certificate. Also earlier this year, a school board trustee resigned after an evangelical Christian TV network filmed and interviewed students without permission or consent.
