Did Trump just solve Harris' Latino voter problem?

The Madison Square Garden rally has turned into a prairie fire of anger among Latinos and it's not just Puerto Ricans. But will it matter?

Each time Donald Trump has run for President the opposing Democratic nominee has lost Latino supporters. It remains one of politics great mysteries, confounding everyone except those who subscribe to The Great Transformation. How can someone who has demonstrated such anti-Latino and anti-immigrant sentiment gain more and more Latino supporters? In fact, all of the credible polling on Latino voters show he is likely to pick up even more Latino support in the remaining days until November 5th.

Or rather he was.

The stinging racially charged ‘jokes’ by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at the Madison Square Garden rally may have finally shaken Latino voters back to their sensibilities. There’s a new awareness even through their economic stress and general lack of confidence in Harris or the Democrats, they’re still not as bad as the racist Republicans and those they surround themselves with. Hinchcliffe not only offended Puerto Ricans by labeling the territory as “a floating island of garbage”, he continued by saying Latino’s “keep having kids. They don’t pull out. They come inside…just like they do our country” and of course, for the grand finale he threw in a comment about Blacks “carving watermelons”. Because of course, it wouldn’t be overt racism without attacking Blacks.

I have been a sharp critic of the approach both Biden and Harris have been employing on Latino voters. I have tried to keep my criticism constructive but it is direct because the stakes for our country are so high. Agree with my style or not it’s difficult to argue that I’ve been wrong thus far: Despite historic early spending and a barrage of campaign ads in English and Spanish, Harris numbers sit at a worse position than where Biden was in 2020. No amount of spin can change that. The Latino strategy that Democrats have been employing since the 2012 campaign have been a failure and they did not pivot fast enough in this election to bring Trump’s numbers back to a competitive range. Period.

But I believe the Madison Square Garden rally may have changed that.

Now, I know there are skeptics out there that don’t believe this will move the needle one bit when thousands of other offensive comments haven’t and that’s a fair position to take. After all, the road is lined with the broken reputations of pundits predicting Trump’s end after his use of racial slurs that would have spelled the end of any other politician. Fair enough - but this time may be different.

Here’s why: