Trump Faces Late-Stage Backlash From Puerto Rican Voters

Former U.S. President Donald Trump is facing backlash from many Puerto Ricans after a comedian at a Trump rally on Sunday referred to the U.S. territory as a “floating island of garbage.”

While residents of Puerto Rico itself cannot vote in presidential elections, the swing state of Pennsylvania is home to almost half a million people of Puerto Rican descent. Nearly half a million more are spread across six other swing states.

Polls in recent weeks have suggested that historically high support for the Republican Party among Latinos, especially Latino men, might help deliver Trump the White House. But Sunday’s comment hit a nerve—and some Puerto Rican cultural influencers who had thus far been silent on the election have now endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.

They include reggaeton stars Don Omar and Bad Bunny, who was Spotify’s most streamed artist in the world from 2020 to 2022. Don Omar posted to his 12.6 million Instagram followers that “hearing such racist and disdainful words directed at my home and at Latinos is heartbreaking.” The Washington Post had previously called Bad Bunny the “pop star endorsement that could really swing the election.”

Trump attempted to save face after the rally, saying that “no president’s done more for Puerto Rico than I have.” Many Puerto Ricans objected to that claim, pointing to federal aid delays after Hurricane Maria in 2017. The mishandling of the hurricane response even made it into Bad Bunny’s song lyrics. If you want to learn more about the long political history of reggaeton, there’s a Latin America Brief for you.