Celebrity Influence in Politics

At Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden this past weekend, the comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico an “island of garbage.” In the swing state of Pennsylvania, which is home to nearly half a million people of Puerto Rican descent, the fallout from Hinchcliffe’s offensive remarks threatens to shift the balance of the Latino electorate. The New Yorker contributing writer Geraldo Cadava joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss the public response to the rally and why the Republican Party has appealed to Latino voters in recent years. “In all of the interviews of Latino Republicans that I’ve done over the past several years, they will point to real concerns they have about crime, safety, charter schools, immigration, the economy that they feel like the Democrats haven’t had an answer for,” Cadava says. 

This week’s reading:

• “The Political Journey of a Top Latino Strategist for Trump,” by Geraldo Cadava
• “The Radio Station That Latino Voters Trust,” by Stephania Taladrid
• “Donald Trump and the F-Word,” by Susan B. Glasser
• “The Trump Show Comes to Madison Square Garden,” by Andrew Marantz
• “Bidenomics Is Starting to Transform America. Why Has No One Noticed?,” by Nicolas Lemann 

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