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Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), Is Interviewed About Trump Rally Speaker Calls Puerto Rico "Island Of Garbage"; Today: Harris Takes Closing Message To Battleground Michigan. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired October 28, 2024 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[11:00:23]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: Good morning. You are live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. This morning, Republicans are trying to clean up the damage after Donald Trump's dark and inflammatory rally last night at Madison Square Garden. The event in New York, just over a week from Election Day, featured a parade of MAGA movement speakers. Their closing message, menacing, vulgar, misogynist and racist.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. Yes, I think it's called Puerto Rico.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She is some sick -- Hillary Clinton, huh? What a sick son of a --. The whole -- party, a bunch of degenerates.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you imagine Kamala Harris performing a random, kind, generous act? She is the devil, whoever screamed that out. She is the antichrist.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her and her pimp handlers will destroy our country. We need to slaughter this other people.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: They're smart and they're vicious and we have to defeat them. And when I say the enemy from within, the other side goes crazy. They are indeed the enemy from within.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: That vile island of garbage comment from a self-described comedian warming up the crowd. There was nothing funny about that. The Trump campaign is trying to distance itself from that remark while the Harris camp -- Harris campaign is seizing on it, eight days until the election and the race could not be closer.

CNN's Kristen Holmes joins us from Atlanta where Trump will be holding a rally later today. Kristen, we're obviously seeing two very different messages coming from these campaigns. And Trump's message at Madison Square Garden, I suppose they believe fires up his base, but it could alienate a lot of last minute undecided voters.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and that's what Democrats are hoping for, that this kind of rhetoric, particularly on the national stage, is something that will alienate voters, that will actually drive voters out to vote against Donald Trump. But I do want to make one thing clear about this rally at Madison Square Garden. His rhetoric was the exact same of what we have heard on the campaign trail for the last several weeks.

Sure, it felt like it was on steroids because of the fact that we're at Madison Square Garden. But he has been saying the same things about Democrats being the enemy within, about immigration, using this kind of dark tone, this dark rhetoric. But that hadn't changed. What was really remarkable was that pre-programming. These several speakers leading up to Donald Trump that really set the tone for the former president in some such a negative and dark way that you were almost wondering what Donald Trump was going to say.

When it came to the former president, he delivered on the same kind of messaging that he has. He's talked about immigration incessantly, talking about how it was harming the country. They believe that is a winning issue for them. Take a listen to some of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The day I take the oath office, the migrant invasion of our country ends and the restoration of our country begins. We will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail and they kick them the hell out of our country as fast as possible. I'm here by calling for the death penalty for any migrant that kills an American citizen or a law enforcement officer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Again, I think it's important to note, Jim, this is stuff that he has been saying on the campaign trail several months, we just saw it live on every single screen and every single home on national media because he was doing it from Madison Square Garden. For better or for worse, when it comes to the Trump campaign, obviously we know Kamala Harris, one of the things that she has been saying is that she wants people to go and listen to what Donald Trump and his allies are saying.

But I will also tell you that a lot of Donald Trump's allies are very angry about what they saw on the stage last night. Not from the former president himself, but in that pre-programming. They don't understand how some of these speeches, particularly some of these lines, and particularly that comedian, whether or not you think that was a joke, he says it was, was allowed to say something like that up on the stage, completely tainting the messaging from the former president as he stood up there.

And I do want to say one thing. The crowd was incredibly receptive to everything that Donald Trump said. They were kind of receptive to that pre-programming. But all of the things that we have talked about in terms of immigration, in terms of crime, in terms of this fear based rhetoric, they were standing on their feet clapping for him. He sold out Madison Square Garden. So it's just something to keep in mind that while we are talking about all this rhetoric, it is resonating with his base.

Now the question, of course, Jim, does it resonate outside of his base? Is he going to actually be able to expand the electorate to get the votes he needs to win on November 5th? That's just not something we're going to know until Election Day.

ACOSTA: All right, Kristen Holmes in Atlanta, thank you very much.

[11:05:03]

As the Trump campaign attempts to distance itself from those hateful remarks about Puerto Rico at the former president's rally. Prominent Puerto Ricans are signaling their support for Vice President Kamala Harris, including superstar, Bad Bunny, who shared a Harris campaign clip to his more than 45 million followers on Instagram last night.

New York Congressman Democratic Party Ritchie Torres joins us now. He's of Puerto Rican descent. Congressman, good to see you, as always. I mean, obviously those comments about Puerto Rico are disgusting and -- and hateful. What's your reaction to all of this? And do you think, I mean, we're to the point that this could have an impact with last minute undecided voters. We've been hearing about African American men. We've been hearing about Latino men. And whether or not they've been drifting towards Donald Trump in this race, might this change some minds?

REP. RITCHIE TORRES (D-NY): What should serve as a reminder, you know, hatred is not a bug, but a feature of Donald Trump's campaign. He creates an atmosphere that not only enables the kind of hatred that we saw at Madison Square Garden, but he emboldens it. He emboldens hatred for immigrants. He emboldens hatred for Puerto Rico. He emboldens hatred for any and all people he deems to be enemies from within. Like hate is the operating system of the Trump campaign.

And I think we as a country have a simple choice. We can either choose a leader like Kamala Harris, who's going to unite us with hope, or you can choose Donald Trump, who's going to divide us with hate. And what you saw at Madison Square Garden is a omen of things to come if Donald Trump -- if -- if Donald Trump is not defeated.

ACOSTA: And an estimated 5.8 million people in the United States of Puerto Rican descent. In Pennsylvania, a critical battleground state, there's a sizable Puerto Rican population. We were just showing this up on screen earlier on in this program somewhere in the neighborhood of -- of 450,000 people. There it is right there, 456,589 Puerto Ricans, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Those are American citizens.

TORRES: Without question. There are more than 3 million American citizens on the island of Puerto Rico. And so I was offended by those comments, not only as a Puerto Rican, but as an American. Here you have the Trump campaign or one of their surrogates launching an assault on our fellow Americans. And insulting the people of Puerto Rico, as the Trump campaign has done, is not only bad morals, it's bad politics.

There are hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans in Pennsylvania. There are tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans in Michigan and Wisconsin and North Carolina. And so their insistence on denigrating the home and heritage of the Puerto Rican people is going to backfire politically. It's politically self-destructive and revealing about the true character of the Trump campaign and Trump himself.

ACOSTA: And we're showing your -- your tweet saying ignore the haters heaping scorn on Puerto Rico at Donald Trump's rally. Puerto Rico is not garbage. It's gorgeous, the people, the culture, the island. I've been there several times myself. It's -- it's a beautiful place. There's no question about it. I guess, Congressman, the other factor in all of this is it might remind Puerto Ricans of Donald Trump's track record when it comes to Puerto Rico. In particular, what took place during Hurricane Maria when he infamously was tossing paper towels at people there in October 2017. Do you think the Harris campaign needs to remind voters of this, talk about this, highlight this? What's your sense of it?

TORRES: Look, we should drive the difference between the two candidates home. You know, after Hurricane Maria, which was one of the worst natural disasters that Puerto Rico had to face in its recent history, Donald Trump not only abandoned Puerto Rico, he did everything he could to sabotage the reconstruction and recovery of Puerto Rico in its moment of greatest crisis.

And as you pointed out, there was the infamous photo op in which he was seen throwing paper towels at Puerto Rican residents in distress. Donald Trump has a long history of disrespecting the people of Puerto Rico long before the hateful rally at Madison Square Garden. And voters need reminding.

ACOSTA: And Congressman, the Trump campaign is putting out a statement saying that these views don't reflect Donald Trump's views, the views coming from that so called comedian who's not very funny. What's your response to that?

TORRES: There was nothing exceptional about the rally, right? The Madison Square Garden rally, like all Trump rallies, have been a buffet of bigotry, racism and sexism, nativism and anti-Semitism. Not only did you see insults against the people of Puerto Rico, but you saw the same comedian, so called comedian, trafficking in anti-Semitic stereotypes and tropes.

[11:10:11]

There were a number of speakers who made sexist and misogynistic comments about Hillary Clinton, about Kamala Harris. So hatred is not the exception. It is the rule of the Trump campaign.

ACOSTA: And is -- is this a ploy to get male -- male votes? I mean, that's what you -- that's what we hear from analysts, from political experts. This is all played to male voters, to men. And I just don't -- I'm trying to figure out which men likes this kind of stuff. Who -- who are these guys who like this kind of stuff? TORRES: Well, there are many men in America who have mothers and daughters and would not want to see the woman in their lives disrespected and denigrated by Donald Trump and his surrogates. You know, hate has been the strategy of the Trump campaign from the very outset. Donald Trump cannot be -- cannot help but be who he is. But I have enough confidence in our country that in the end we're going to see the triumph of hope over hate. And that hate, the politics of hate has diminishing returns.

ACOSTA: All right, Congressman Ritchie Torres in the Bronx for us. Thank you very much for your time. We appreciate it.

TORRES: Of course.

ACOSTA: All right. Still ahead this hour, why the -- why the Kamala Harris campaign is courting white men in its 11th hour push and why they have decided Michelle Obama is one of the best people out there to win them over, that's next.

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[11:16:15]

ACOSTA: Vice President Kamala Harris is taking her closing argument to Michigan today and warning Americans of the dangers posed by another Trump presidency. Her message is set to draw a stark contrast to the dark anti-immigrant rhetoric we heard last night at Donald Trump's rally in New York. And CNN's Priscilla Alvarez joins now. Priscilla, how is the Harris campaign responding to Trump's rally last night? And I suppose they are welcoming any support they can get from people like Bad Bunny. They'll -- they'll take that every day of the week.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They certainly will. But look, Harris campaign officials I've spoken with say that what happened and unfolded at the rally at -- yesterday should come as no surprise. But certainly this was a split screen moment that they were not anticipating with that comedian at the former president's rally assailing Puerto Rico.

And earlier in the day, the Vice President at a Puerto Rican restaurant in the Philadelphia area where she was outlining her plans and proposals for Puerto Rico. Now the campaign had also put a clip of those proposals by -- spoken by the Vice President on social media. And Bad Bunny had grabbed those clips and shared them to his 45 million followers.

Now I am told that Harris campaign officials had been in touch with Bad Bunny's team in hopes of him at some point in this election lending his support for the Vice President and her plans for Puerto Rico. Well, that happened yesterday still to the surprise of many when they saw it and certainly they were happy about it because he is this -- the Puerto Rican rec -- recording artist is very famous. He's a superstar among Latinos and around the world.

And certainly he carries influence when it comes to the Latino vote and especially Puerto Ricans. And in a state like Pennsylvania, where Puerto Ricans are a sizable portion of the voters there, this comes as welcome news for the Vice President and her team as they try to lock down that battleground state, a state that President Biden only narrowly won.

So certainly the message from the campaign has been that the rhetoric at the rally -- for the former president's rally should come as no surprise. But they are trying to use it now as a contrast to what the Vice President was doing yesterday in Pennsylvania in speaking directly to Latino voters, to Puerto Ricans, and also amplifying and elevating those celebrities that have since come out in support of the Vice President.

ACOSTA: Yes. And Priscilla, what is Harris's closing argument in a nutshell in this final week of campaigning? I mean, I know we heard her over the weekend, and they've been using this line a few times, that Trump has an enemies list. She has a to do list. I have heard her repeat that. So that sounds like that's what their -- their final message is. But she's also going to be going to the Ellipse in -- in Washington tomorrow to, I guess, point out that that is where Donald Trump had that speech, that infamous speech on January 6th.

ACOSTA: Yes. A senior advisor described tomorrow's address as a broad speech where it's not only drawing the stark contrast, as you mentioned, with the two lists that's been a talking point over the last recent days, but also to try to paint a vision for the future.

Now, of course, the source tells me that the enemies list versus the to do list will feature prominently, but so will other issues like reproductive freedom. Now, tomorrow, again, as you mentioned, the Vice President speaking from that notable location, the Ellipse perimeter is already going up in the area in preparation for that.

ACOSTA: Fascinating. You see some of that footage right there. All right, Priscilla Alvarez, thank you very much.

Let's discuss now with Democratic strategist Maria Cardona and Republican strategist Shermichael Singleton. Guys, great to see both of you so much. Maria, let me start with you. Your thoughts on what we saw unfolding at Madison Square Garden last night.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It was jaw dropping, Jim. As, you know, I'm a Latina raised in Puerto Rico. And so it was not just deeply offensive and incredibly insulting, as a strategist, I thought it was so, so stupid. I mean, they are not just insulting Puerto Ricans on the island, they are insulting Latinos in general and Puerto Ricanos who live in battleground states.

[11:20:15]

There are almost a million Puerto Ricanos and Latinos that live in the battleground states. And here you have Donald Trump and all of his speakers and all of their anti-immigrant hatred, anti-Latino glory as their closing argument in this really very close campaign. How is that smart? I just really don't understand it.

ACOSTA: Yes. CARDONA: So that's why you have Bad Bunny J. Lo, Ricky Martin, AOC who combined have almost 400 million followers. And they are all spreading the clips of first Donald Trump and his speakers insulting Latinos and Puerto Ricanos and then Kamala Harris talking about what she wants to do for Latinos and the Puerto Rican community.

ACOSTA: Yes.

CARDONA: That is going to deliver, Jim, an electoral chancla to Donald Trump's head on Election Day.

ACOSTA: And Shermichael, I mean, I guess, you know, the Trump campaign has been trying to distance itself from -- from this so called comedian, again, not very funny, not funny at all. It's just outrageous what he was saying. But, you know, doesn't a lot of this flow from Trump, aren't a lot of these speakers trying to suck up to him and emulate him and be like him by -- when they -- when they spew this kind of stuff?

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I mean, I -- I don't know if I can say the comedian was trying to suck up to Trump. I mean, I think that the framing of that question is -- is a bit problematic. The guy said what was obviously a very racist joke, not only about Puerto Ricans, there's some anti-Semitism thrown in there. It was a joke about a black guy in watermelon.

Now, I did speak with some folks from the campaign and they did tell me that they vetted the jokes that they thought the guy was going to stick with. And this guy decided like a complete moron to go in front of thousands of people with cameras that were broadcasting this across the country and turn off very critical groups that the former president, at least if you are to believe some of the polling was doing fairly well with.

Now let's look at a place like Pennsylvania. There are 456,000 Puerto Ricans there. Now, you've given the Harris campaign an opportunity to message, to target and engage with those individuals through radio ads in Spanish and English, through television ads, through on the ground efforts, by door knocking, in a state that we know for a fact is going to be incredibly close.

ACOSTA: Yes.

SINGLETON: And -- and so to me, I -- I just don't understand what in the hell this guy was thinking, Jim. I mean, to Maria's point, in terms of strategy, this just makes no sense at all. It really does not.

ACOSTA: Yes. And I -- I guess you're right. I mean, you know, this thing went viral before Trump got on -- on stage. He could have condemned it. He could have said he -- he doesn't support this sort of thing. You know, I -- I just -- shouldn't he come out and say something?

SINGLETON: Look, that's going to be for the campaign to decide if the former president is going to make a statement directly. But I do know the campaign itself, moments after, did release a statement pretty much sort of condemning it. You haven't seen a single Republican saying that this was OK. I mean, you even had Rick Scott, the former governor of Florida, condemning it, talking about his great work with Puerto Ricans throughout the state of Florida.

So, look, if you find somebody out there that's saying this was OK, then I think all of us on this panel would probably agree that a person who would not condemn this certainly doesn't belong in a public space. And so I think it was smart for the campaign to come out and say, look, this was wrong. And would it be helpful for the former president to come out and say so as well? I don't think it would hurt politically. I think it would be smart.

ACOSTA: Go ahead, Maria.

CARDONA: But, Jim, you know, he will never do that. But I also want to be very clear. It wasn't just that one insult, calling Puerto Rico garbage in the ocean from this comedian. That wasn't the only thing that was horrifically offended in this rally.

ACOSTA: Right. Tucker Carlson was making comments.

CARDONA: Yes.

ACOSTA: They were making comments about Hillary Clinton.

CARDONA: Yes.

ACOSTA: And calling her the B word and son of a B --

CARDONA: Yes.

ACOSTA: -- and -- and that sort of thing. I mean --

CARDONA: Exactly.

ACOSTA: - it was one after another. And then Trump got on stage and continued to spew the same rhetoric that we hear at all of his rallies.

CARDONA: That -- that's exactly right.

ACOSTA: Yes.

CARDONA: They called Hill -- Hillary Clinton the B word. They essentially described the Vice President as a whore. The comedian also talked about Latinos as breeders in a horrific, grotesque sexual context. And Donald Trump himself, let's not forget, continued to talk about the enemy from within, continued to spew conspiracy theories about immigrants in this country that we know is absolutely not true, talked about mass deportations. I mean, the whole rally, Jim, is Donald Trump's closing argument.

[11:25:09]

And his closing argument to Americans is hatred, violence, vitriol, misogyny, racism, xenophobia. And that is not what Americans want. I believe that whole rally was an in kind contribution to the Kamala Harris campaign, especially as they will convince, it will convince moderate voters, suburban women, even Republicans that this is not somebody, and -- and frankly, every other voter that was not in that rally last night, that this is not somebody who deserves to be the president of the United States.

ACOSTA: And I do want to play a little bit of Michelle Obama from over the weekend in Michigan. She had this message for -- for men.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: But to anyone out there thinking about sitting out this election or voting for Donald Trump or a third party candidate in protest because you're fed up, let me warn your rage does not exist in a vacuum. If we don't get this election right, your wife, your daughter, your mother, we as women will become collateral damage to your rage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Shermichael, what did you think of that message?

SINGLETON: Look, I -- I think people maintain autonomy to vote for who -- whoever the hell they want to vote for. I don't think you should vote for someone merely because they're a man, merely because they're a white man, any more than I think you should vote for someone because they happen to be a black and also a woman. I think voters should look at the policies and make the determination for themselves, for their families, for their communities, what they believe are -- are in their best interest and vote based upon that.

I mean I -- I just personally don't think that this is helpful, to be quite honest with you, any more than I think a lot of the rhetoric we heard from some of the speakers last night is helpful politically for Republicans. So I think you should make your case to the American people based upon the issues and allow the people to make their decision from there.

ACOSTA: All right, Maria and Shermichael, thanks a lot. Really appreciate it. Good to see both of you.

CARDONA: Thanks, Jim.

ACOSTA: Still -- still ahead this hour, to anyone who thinks their vote will not matter in the next eight days, think about Wisconsin, where former President Trump lost by less than 21,000 votes. Polls show a potentially closer race this year. I'll speak with the former Wisconsin governor Scott Walker. There he is. We'll discuss all of this next.

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