Politics
Trump struggles to deal with his latest problem with Puerto Rico
Puerto Ricans weren’t the only targets at Donald Trump’s Sunday night event at Madison Square Garden, but they’re the ones causing the former president the biggest political headache in the final week of the 2024 race.
The Republican held an event where the audience heard a warm-up speaker refer to Puerto Rico as an “island of garbage,” among other derogatory remarks about Latinos that were peddled at the gathering. The backlash has been fierce, causing unease among party officials.
The chairman of the GOP in Puerto Rico announced he’d withhold support for Trump unless the former president apologized for Sunday’s racism. At least for now, that’s not going to happen.
For Trump, Step One was holding a hate-filled event. Step Two was ignoring the controversy the day after it erupted. Step Three involved pretending that he hadn’t headlined a hate-filled event, telling the public that he considered it a “lovefest.”
When these efforts didn’t appear to help, the former president moved on to a dubious Step Four. The New York Times reported:
In a moment that seemed highly choreographed — given the fallout from a comedian’s offensive joke about Puerto Ricans at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally — a Puerto Rican woman [at a roundtable event held in Drexel Hill, Pa.] tells Trump that Puerto Ricans stand behind him. Trump thanks her and claims, implausibly, that no president has done more for Puerto Rico than he did.
In fact, the Republican spent much of the day declaring, “I think no president’s done more for Puerto Rico than I have.”
This wasn’t just ridiculous, it also created an opportunity to highlight his awful his record toward the island. A separate Times report noted, for example, “As president, Mr. Trump fought bitterly with [Carmen Yulín Cruz, the former San Juan mayor] and other Puerto Rican leaders, and resisted sending billions of dollars in aid after the territory was ravaged by back-to-back hurricanes in 2017. He made angry comments on social media and tossed paper towels at Puerto Ricans during a visit that few, if any, have forgotten. He even wondered privately if the United States could sell the island.”
The report added that the Republican Party’s platform “no longer mentions statehood for Puerto Rico, a position the party had held before Mr. Trump’s relationship with the island soured.”
All of which helped set the stage for Step Five: feigning ignorance and pretending the controversy isn’t real.
Sitting down for his latest interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Trump said of Tony Hinchcliffe, “I have no idea who he is,” and adding that “they” were responsible for giving him a speaking slot.
“What they’ve done is taken somebody who has nothing to do with the party, has nothing to do with us, said something, and they try and make a big deal,” Trump went on to tell Hannity. “But I don’t know who it is, I don’t even know who put him in. And I can’t imagine it’s a big deal.”
If that sounds to you like wishful thinking, we’re on the same page.
It would’ve been easy for the Republican candidate to denounce the racist rhetoric at his own event on Sunday. Trump also had the option of expressing regret and/or taking some responsibility for the depraved rhetoric at his own rally.
He’s chosen a different, more Trumpian path.
Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an BLN political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”
Politics
Pappas holds cash advantage over GOP rivals in New Hampshire
Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) holds a sizable cash advantage over his GOP rivals in the race for New Hampshire’s open Senate seat.
The Democrat raked in $3.3 million to his campaign account over the first quarter of the year as he vies to succeed retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.). Pappas, who faces only nominal opposition for his party’s nomination, entered April with $4.2 million in his war chest, according to his Federal Election Commission filing.
Pappas’ leading GOP competitor, former Sen. John E. Sununu, raised $1.1 million directly to his campaign account and had nearly $1.9 million in cash on hand. He spent just $349,000, per his filing — a significantly lower burn rate than Pappas, who spent $2.3 million over the last three months.
Sununu’s primary rival, former Sen. Scott Brown, lagged even further behind. Brown raised a modest $321,000 and entered the second quarter with $783,000 in his campaign coffers. He spent more money than he brought in, according to his filing.
Pappas leads both of his potential Republican opponents in hypothetical polling match-ups of the general election, though his margin against Sununu is slimmer.
Sununu, who has the backing of the national GOP establishment and President Donald Trump in a state Republicans hope to flip, holds a wide lead over Brown, a former Trump ambassador, in polls of the GOP primary.
Politics
Ossoff builds massive cash edge as Georgia GOP field remains unsettled
Georgia Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff holds a massive fundraising advantage over the Republicans hoping to unseat him in November, giving him a head start as the GOP field remains fractured.
Ossoff, considered one of the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents of the cycle, raised $14 million during the first quarter of the year and ended with more than $31 million cash on hand — a significant war chest that dwarfs the combined totals of his Republican challengers, according to filings from the Federal Elections Commission.
On the GOP side, Rep. Mike Collins led in first-quarter fundraising, raising just over $1 million and entering the second quarter with $2.1 million in cash on hand. Collins has been a front-runner in public polling of the race, but with a large share of voters still undecided ahead of the May primary, the contest appears increasingly likely to head to a June runoff.
Rep. Buddy Carter raised $469,795, but he ended the quarter with more in the bank than his primary opponents — $3.7 million — thanks in part due to a $3 million he loaned his campaign last year. Former football coach Derek Dooley raised $663,502 and has $2.2 million in the bank.
National Republicans are likely to funnel more money into the contest once a nominee emerges, with the GOP-aligned Senate Leadership Fund already planning a $44 million investment in Georgia. But in the meantime, Ossoff has been able to build a financial lead in what’s expected to be one of the most expensive Senate races of 2026.
Politics
Barr keeps his cash lead in Kentucky Senate GOP primary
Rep. Andy Barr maintained his cash advantage over his GOP rivals in the race to succeed retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell in Kentucky.
Barr raised nearly $1.5 million over the first three months of the year and started April with almost $4.2 million in his war chest — more than five times that of his next-closest rival, according to filings from the Federal Election Commission.
Businessman Nate Morris reported raising $1 million and had roughly $580,000 in his campaign coffers to start the second quarter. But nearly half of that — $450,000 — was a personal loan, per his filing. Morris has now loaned himself $4.9 million over the course of the campaign.
Former state Attorney General Daniel Cameron posted another modest haul; he raised $456,000 and had roughly $765,000 in cash on hand.
Barr holds a slim lead in public polling of the contentious primary for McConnell’s seat that has seen all three major candidates scramble to distance themselves from their former boss and embrace Donald Trump. The president has not endorsed in the race.
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