Donald Trump on Tony Hinchcliffe: ‘I don’t know him, someone put him up there’

I’ve been around Donald Trump’s clownshow long enough to know that there is no bottom, and his idiot supporters instantly forget every offensive, obnoxious, racist, misogynistic and deplorable thing he says and does. That being said, the Puerto Rico comment seems to have taken hold at just the right moment in the election cycle to make a difference. On Sunday, Trump threw himself a Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden. The Trump campaign platformed a variety of white male speakers who vomited out hatred, racism and misogyny. One of those speakers was Tony Hinchcliffe, a comedian who called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” Bad Bunny, Ricky Martin and Jennifer Lopez all came out hard for Kamala Harris and Republicans panicked.

There’s an abundance of evidence that the Trump campaign knew and approved of all of the speeches on stage at the Nazi rally. Hinchcliffe apparently wanted to call VP Harris a “c–t” but the campaign shut it down, which implies that everything else Hinchcliffe said was A-OK with them. On Tuesday, Trump was asked about Hinchcliffe and his Puerto Rico joke, and this was Trump’s response:

Former President Trump says he does not know the controversial comedian who performed at his Madison Square Garden rally Sunday and didn’t hear him speak — his most extensive public comments yet on the controversy surrounding Tony Hinchcliffe’s remarks about Puerto Rico.

“I don’t know him; someone put him up there. I don’t know who he is,” Trump told ABC News’s Rachel Scott in an interview published Tuesday.

Hinchcliffe was featured at Trump’s Sunday rally in New York City, sparking backlash for describing Puerto Rico as “a floating island of garbage.” He also made a crude joke about Latinos, babies and immigration. Trump told the network he hadn’t listened to Hinchcliffe’s remarks, and reiterated that sentiment when Scott asked what his thoughts were about them.

[From The Hill]

This was JD Vance’s response too, that he “didn’t see” Hinchcliffe’s set and that he has no idea what he said. This wasn’t some random comment made in an overseas speech not affiliated with the Trump campaign – this was the opening act of the Trump campaign’s MSG Nazi rally, the same rally that they organized as a carnival to showcase why Donald Trump should “win” the White House. Instead of owning it, Trump is being a giant p-ssy and crying about how he didn’t see it or hear of it.

Meanwhile, also on Tuesday, Trump claimed that the Nazi rally was a “lovefest” (I thought he didn’t know what happened??): “The love in that room. It was breathtaking. It was like a lovefest, an absolute lovefest. And it was my honor to be involved.” The last time Trump called something a “lovefest,” he was talking about the violent January 6th insurrection.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

36 Responses to “Donald Trump on Tony Hinchcliffe: ‘I don’t know him, someone put him up there’”

Comments are Closed

We close comments on older posts to fight comment spam.

  1. Miranda says:

    OK, Mariah.

  2. Nicole says:

    He always defaults to “I don’t know him” when they make him look bad. Don’t fall for it. It’s one of his tells.

    • DK says:

      Even if we take them at their word (which obviously one should never do!) and believe they didn’t hear his set live from backstage, the fact that someone who spoke at the same rally as they did – for their campaign – made such a negative impression that it is all over the media and internet, means they have a responsibility to look into it and find out what was said.

      The fact that they want us to believe that no staffer brought them the clip and said, “Hey this is generating a lot of negative heat, you should check it out and prepare a statement,” or that they themselves (pretend) to be so utterly uninterested as to look into it themselves, is not the flex they think this “I didn’t hear it” garbage excuse is.

      Instead it just further reveals what rotten, irresponsible, poor leaders they are.

      • Another Anna says:

        We definitely, definitely shouldn’t take them at their word. An NBC producer reported having seen Hinchcliffe working the Puerto Rico “joke” out at a comedy club the day before the rally. Hinchcliffe reportedly said “I’m gonna tell that joke tomorrow.”

        The Trump team might not have known the specifics of what he was going to say, but only because they are willfully ignorant.

      • BeanieBean says:

        Exactly! This is an example of how he’d govern/rule (please by all that is holy, no!)–things go wrong, eh, not his fault, didn’t know the guy, not gonna try too hard to fix it, and so on. Lazy and stupid. What gets me, though, is that all the focus is on this one comedian, when he was just the lead-off hitter. Every single person who followed him was just as vile, or more so. Every single one.

    • Debbie says:

      I actually expected him to say he was “just the coffee boy,” like he called Anthony Scaramucci when he failed as Trump’s speaker as well.

  3. DL says:

    “someone put him up there”… Yeah, YOU did!!! JFC

  4. Dee(2) says:

    I did the most for ( insert group here), She was nasty ( insert woman here), I didn’t know them/they were low level ( insert Trump connected person saying something bonehead or criticizing him). This is what he says for all issues that pop up. Pathologically can’t be wrong and can’t take ownership of any issues that don’t paint him as the best ever.

    • Miranda says:

      That pathological inability to admit mistakes and blame everybody else is…something. Arguably one of his most dangerous traits, in some ways. I managed to listen to/read some of his interview with Rogan, and when asked if he made any mistakes in office, he very predictably just went on a rant in which he seemed to be close to saying that maybe he had hired the “wrong” people, but of course he couldn’t do that, and I THINK (one can never be certain with his incoherent ass) he was actually trying to argue that THEY made the unforgivable mistake of being disloyal, but he was still 1000000% right to hire them?

      Something I noticed in that interview, and the speech from the Nazi rally, is that he seems run out of breath every few words. Sometimes in the MIDDLE of a word. He can’t be long for this world.

      • AmyB says:

        @Miranda:

        “That pathological inability to admit mistakes and blame everybody else is…something. Arguably one of his most dangerous traits” – yeah that is his malignant narcissism on full display. He has zero ability to admit fault, take accountability for a single action in his life, and is driven only by the need to feed his fragile ego. Oh, and let’s not forget in the simplest terms: he is only running to keep his vile, bigoted fascist ass out of prison.

  5. Never to blame as is his usual.

  6. Sue says:

    A.) Oh look, Donald is lying. Again.
    B.) Even if he was telling the truth, doesn’t that put people off that he doesn’t have awareness of what’s going on around him?

  7. Swack says:

    How he didn’t know what was said is beyond me. It was all over the newspapers and media (social media also) immediately. So both him and Vance saying they didn’t know is bogus. We all know he is all over anything that comes out about him because he wants to see the “love fest” happening.

  8. Jais says:

    It’s his rally organized by his team. So it’s on him.

  9. trillion says:

    Yet they supposedly stopped him short of calling Kamala Harris a C*nt. Because they are principled.

  10. SIde Eye says:

    He is never responsible for anything! It’s always someone else – unless he is taking credit for President Obama’s economy.

    This is right up there with “they told me to make a speech and I got up there and made a speech” about Jan. 6th. Like he is not the top, generic brand moldy cheese in charge. GTFOH.

  11. Sherry says:

    It also seems problematic that MSG let Trump hold a rally there, knowing what he stands for.

    • Debbie says:

      Maybe they thought it would make a nice “bookend” to a similar Nazi rally they also allowed to take place at Madison Square Garden, in 1939 by the German American Bund, a pro-Hitler group. In other words, for sentimental reasons.

  12. Sherry says:

    Let me just say that I am Canadian, and am mentally exhausted by the constant Trump BS. I can’t imagine how Americans must feel.

    • antipodean says:

      @Sherry, never a truer word was spoken. I just hope that when MVP wins the Trump loonies will fade away, and normal, decent people will be able to get on with being law abiding, contributing members to this wonderful country we are so privileged to live in! And of course that the norms of obeying the law and respecting other people and their rights to live their own lives will return. Your sympathy is very much appreciated.

  13. Lurker M says:

    In Orange Clown speak apparently a love fest= Any event that kisses his large ass

  14. Chaine says:

    Some outlets are saying the comedian was Barron Trump’s idea. If so, I find it hard to believe that he didn’t know about the speaker his own son selected.

    • Jay says:

      If so, that sounds like Trump throwing his own son under the bus! I don’t believe for a second that Trump’s campaign team took suggestions from his teenage son on who should take the stage at MSG.

      This is not unlike how Don Jr. got flack for “convincing” his father to pick J.D.

    • Louisa says:

      I can actually believe that Barron was the one that suggested this “comedian”. I think they are grooming Barron and I understand he listens to all these bro / incel podcast and was the one who encouraged Trump to go on Rogan.
      Do I think Trump himself cared to listen to or learn about this “comedian”? No, he probably just told his people, Barron likes him, get him. And the idiots who work for the campaign went along with it.
      But, bottom line. Trump’s campaign. Trump’s responsibility.

    • SarahCS says:

      There are also suggestions that Joe Rogan is the link between them.

  15. Henny Penny says:

    These psycho-Nazi clowns have watched too many episodes of Hogan’s Heroes. They see nothing. They hear nothing. They know nothing. And they never take responsibility for anything.

  16. Jay says:

    In a way, this is actually the most “politician” Trump has ever sounded. It’s what Republicans have been doing for years to deflect against Trump’s tweets: “I didn’t see it”. It’s ridiculous and silly, yes, but it also might take away one of the Orange guy’s undeniable strengths for disaffected voters – the fact that he’s NOT a typical politician. I think it makes him look weak, like just another politician who treats his audience as if they are stupid, because he is so afraid of the legal and financial ramifications of losing. Don’t you think the Trump of 2016 would just have doubled down – “of course I heard the joke, it was hilarious, and he was right!” Instead, he sounds just like every other long-standing politician that his supporters dislike and distrust.

  17. Traveller says:

    This is his go to position for every awful thing he gets called out on.
    He’s not even a creative liar – no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

  18. KC says:

    He wants to be President, but doesn’t have any idea what’s going on at his own rally? If he’s elected, I predict Vance will be President in 6 to 12 months.

  19. SarahCS says:

    I am begging you to PLEASE find and watch the video they have made in response to this mess. You also have to unmute it.

    Buzzfeed did a compilation of responses to it and I agree with all of them.

    • Minnieder says:

      That video was insane! I saw it while I outside walking my dog and must have looked crazy laughing by myself

  20. MsIam says:

    Sorry DonOld, but your denial does not pass the smell test as usual. You and Shady spoke after Kill Tony remember? So, you or your team heard what was said. If it really “doesn’t reflect your beliefs or your campaign” you had ample opportunity to say that at. the. rally. Live and in person. Someone on your team already admitted they reviewed what Tony planned to say, even if they are trying to say he adlibbed during the set. Instead you waited until after you saw the shit hit the fan and now you’re trying to clean it up. You f*cked up, Diaper Don.

  21. yipyip says:

    I call Bull!
    Trump knows every moved being made.
    And he has zero guilt about any of his crimes and sins.

    1 week to finally seeing the back of that lunatic!

  22. ML says:

    Him saying that he had no idea and didn’t hear it at his “love fest” in NYC is in no way, shape or form believable. (Kind of like that picture above of TFG and his wife holding hands doesn’t read as loving or romantic.)
    After his “comedian” trashed Puerto Rico, TFG had to campaign in one of Pennsylvania’s most Puerto Rican towns. It did not go over well. https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/10/29/trump-allentown-rally-puerto-rico-voters/75915372007/
    Plus, Nicky Jam, a Puerto Rican musician who endorsed Trump has taken back that endorsement.