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[Robot Parade Leader]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-veers-away-swing-states-040221461.html

O look, more racism from Trump's things

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

“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,” said Tony Hinchcliffe, a stand-up comic whose set also included lewd and racist comments about Latinos, Jews and Black people, all key constituencies in the election just nine days away.

I don't even know .... This is not OK. I get that sometimes stuff happens that isn't ideal, but the denials after they get caught sound hollow when Trump literally said he wanted to trade Puerto Rico for Greenland before. It is not acceptable and they didn't apologize because they were sorry and something slipped, they backed out cause they got caught doing exactly what they intended to do. Nothing slipped here, but rather the horrible racism was the point and their main focus/goal.

Their cruelty is their point and their goal. This is just super weird and not ok.

[Lord Shonus]

I've seen the video of that, and it was met with thunderous silence. It has also gotten condemnation from a large number of right-wing pundits that are usually a-OK with veiled bigotry.

[hector13]

See… as it pertains to comedy, I’m generally alright with performers being a bit wanky with what they say so long as it’s clearly a joke, done as part of a performance, in a clearly delineated performance space.

The problem here is a political rally isn’t a performance space, and the person and party the rally was for don’t exactly have the best history as it pertains to… basically anybody who isn’t a rich cis white straight man.

Perhaps Hinchcliffe misjudged the degree to which Republicans and their voters actually hold these views though, so… I guess that’s a silver lining?

[Starver]

...wondering if the thunderous silence was due to it talking about oceanic plastic pollution. Best case: "that's no laughing matter, friend..."; worst case: "what nonsense is he babbling about now!"

(Only a half serious wonder, of course.)

[wobbly]

The cons that Trump tries to play, I'm not sure to I'm not sure to laugh or cry, but this already existed in Reagan's time where he used social decisions to come to power. Very selfish prick but that's the way politics had become. Nixon was worse of course, but Nixon's politics were vile on all levels. No matter who wins wishing all forumites the best. I live in a country where not voting is . ..strange? Here it's compulsory (also NZ). Just vote, and don't vote for a con-man who has done nothing with his life outside of being born into wealth.

[MaxTheFox]

Meanwhile I'm from a country where the "elections" are utter shams and have been since ever, but I am honestly extremely Westernized so I keep in touch with American politics.

[zhijinghaofromchina]

Elections may not suitable for my country, but,  good luck, bay watchers, fight for your democracy with your votes.Even the democratic elections show shortcomings these years, you may also show your willingness to change for better

[Folly]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-veers-away-swing-states-040221461.html
O look, more racism from Trump's things

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

“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,” said Tony Hinchcliffe, a stand-up comic whose set also included lewd and racist comments about Latinos, Jews and Black people, all key constituencies in the election just nine days away.

I don't even know .... This is not OK. I get that sometimes stuff happens that isn't ideal, but the denials after they get caught sound hollow when Trump literally said he wanted to trade Puerto Rico for Greenland before. It is not acceptable and they didn't apologize because they were sorry and something slipped, they backed out cause they got caught doing exactly what they intended to do. Nothing slipped here, but rather the horrible racism was the point and their main focus/goal.
Their cruelty is their point and their goal. This is just super weird and not ok.

Turns out that Trump's team actually screened Hinchcliffe's routine ahead of time, and filtered out some of his jokes for going too far. This was one of the jokes they decided was acceptable.

[McTraveller]

Indeed, the problem with that type of humor is that it's trying to make hate and division acceptable by wrapping it in "funny". It's quite different from the type of humor that pokes fun at the people in the audience itself by hyperbolizing characteristics of that audience.

It's a shame that the distinction isn't more obvious.

[anewaname]

That joke could be seen two ways... it could be the racist joke, but it could also be seen as a "wealthy people spitting down on poor people" thing. There are wealthy Americans living in PR in gated communities that essentially lock out the locals and use the rest of the island as a trash dump.

Of the US Puerto Ricans who support red or blue, I bet more red-supporting see the joke as racist but don't care, and more blue-supporting see the joke as rich-vs-poor and do care; so the net effect could be that more blue-supporting will consider not voting blue because it will trigger them about the wealthy Americans in PR, in the same way that many US Muslims are triggered by the US's inability to stop Israel.

[Lord Shonus]

No, it is fully a racist statement and will be taken as one. We're already seeing prominent Trump-backing Puerto Ricans in Pennsylvania start backtracking and saying Vote Harris, and there's been a major surge in enthusiasm among the half a million PR people in that state. I haven't heard much from other states' communities, but it is unlikely they will be much different.

It is possible that people would take it as a class thing on the island itself, but that matters less because PR is (thanks largely to the Republican Party that keeps blocking the process) a territory rather than a state. Thus it has no electoral votes.

[hector13]

JD Vance said people should take a chill pill over the Puerto Rico joke.

I would laugh so hard if this tanked Trump’s campaign. That’s what you get for having a comedian whose most notable moment was calling a fellow comedian a racial slur after they introduced him.

[Starver]

I actually heard the clip, yesterday. From audio alone, it sounded like he'd just not judged the audience (and wasn't the kind of support act they were expecting in a political event).

Not as bad as you'd expect if Roy 'Chubby' Brown tried to be thevwarm-up for a Victoria Wood concert. Or, for real-life example, reminds me more of John Cooper Clarke 'fronting' for North London punk bands, which ('punk-poetry' aside) tended to get contrast wildly with expectations when you had a hall packed with people all stoked to get pogoing to loud music , not really wanting to hear some rather clever (almost-)rhymeschemes in a thick Salford accent.

(Sorry, those are both a bit rightpondian comparisons, no idea what would work better for AmeriPol's core audience.)

[martinuzz]

In a revolutionairy step forward towards legalizing euthanasia, the city of New York has decided that as of the 1st of march, 2025, jaywalking will no longer be illegal.

Soon, you can legally jump under a bus without fear of being fined.

[Starver]

...thus bringing (a bit of) the US kicking and screaming in line with much of the rest of the world?

(Had a walk round a small bit of rural Pennsylvania once, on a day off from a business trip there. As in went out of the motel and wandered off in the opposite direction to where I'd normally be driven to the local office, 'cos it looked like nice countryside. Only later did I wonder if I'd have been most at threat from some local (or law enforcement) assuming I was "up to nuthin' good", near various deep-in-the-woods properties, or from being hit by a vehicle (or a fine, by the PD) once I was on a stretch of road with no pavemsidewalk, that meant I had to pretty sharpish jump up onto the banked verge (and, thus, maybe subtly trespassing... see above!) whenever I heard something coming round the next heavily tree-lined bend. Even though the full import of my possible foolishness hadn't hit home yet, I was a bit relieved when I got to the next settlement up the road, which seemed to consist almost only of strip-mall of (Ma-and-Pa level) small retailers and restaurants and a bus-stop that took me (roughly, with a few crosswalks needed taking) back where I was staying later on. At best, I maybe considered some over-officious officer making presumptions similar to those at the start of First Blood.)