(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Puerto Rico Finds the Line [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-11-04 In one of a zillion tone deaf moves (because to NOT be tone deaf would mean one was Woke, and we can’t have that), it was not surprising that a comedian specializing in roasting would be the main attraction at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally. It’s one thing to roast those who consent to their roasting. This genre has a long tradition. I remember those old shows with Dean Martin and the rest of the Rat Pack, usually featuring the roast king himself, Don Rickles. Or there is always the reliably roasty White House Correspondents’ dinner. The jokes are inside, and the entertainment value for the rest of us is we get a peek to how the other half lives. It’s the passing off of good natured or not so good natured ribbing among friends or colleagues; a select group in power jockeying for position through competitive humor, and it’s usually accompanied by a nice dinner. There is an element of cool when tuxes are in the room. These kinds of events at your local Knights of Columbus also have a similar understanding, without the tuxes and high profiles, and more likely acompanied by corn on the cob and spaghetti. It’s insult by mutual consent – the advantaged accept their assignment: being brought down a peg or two from their great height, but all involved know it’s only temporary. They recognize their position is safe, so it’s easier to go along with a joke even as it bites them. Except Trump – he did not take too well to being roasted by Obama in 2011, and it might be the reason he entered politics and why we are at this knife’s edge today. This is in character - revenge is Trump’s power source. (Yep, just googled – many politicos do think this.) Still, I stand by my roast thesis. There is an art (mainly) to insult comedy which grants permission to laughter. Art lands the blow softer. There was no art at MSG. The roasted have to agree to their roasting. Bad jokes are not jokes, but a pile on of naked cruelty heaped upon insult. What Puerto Ricans, women, Blacks, and Latinos got was a confirmation of their otherness and outsiderness. They were grist for the mill, to be “enjoyed” by others. They were not in on it. If you did not find humor at Madison Square Garden, you might feel unwittingly complicit. Bad jokes make one want to take a shower. I had been hoping for some sort of an October surprise. One where Trump does himself in in a way that sticks, where he would venture so outside of propriety (which he recently did with a microphone) it would be impossible to recover, EVEN FOR HIM (sad that caveat only applies to this weirdly privileged place he inhabits). However, he’s had a million October surprises by now — every day 3 times a day since 2016. Usually, you never survive your first. So it would have to be something super special. He has flooded the zone so well, as his one achievement, that complacency is the natural coping response. I believe this is a bullet point in the autocrat’s playbook. I always felt he had some Teflon mixed in with his daily application of orange-glo makeup, and I despaired of anything stopping him. Even more power fell into his lap as the highest institution in the country rubber stamped and normalized all the stuff he’s pulled. But then something did happen. Only because someone made a big mistake on his behalf with a garbage joke at the worst possible time, when the momentum was in the air, people were paying attention and engaged. It has caught and hasn’t let go – it definitely won’t be forgotten or the umbrage subside by much. Turns out, large constituencies of Puerto Rican voters are scattered over several swing states. So, there IS a line Trump couldn’t cross undetected. The Teflon’s readying to melt. It may be the start of a new, less orange day. Supremancy is the goal of this crew. With such a lack of focus on policy, the energy goes to debasement and cruelty. Bonds are formed playing to the base, bashing to feel better than, (to be best!). Continual reaffirmation of group, or should I say mob identity, can only be forged by an endless game of Let’s Own the Libs. Trump has a way of speaking that leaves enough doubt about his true meaning; it’s the only place he shows a kind of restraint. For all his blowhard ways, he holds something back for obscurity’s sake - it’s in the things he doesn’t say. He doesn’t use the really bad slur words. Even though a phrase like “poisoning the blood” is bad, it’s bad mainly by implication. Here is where that line was crossed: with a lie that was easily recognizable as contrary to the direct experience of so many. Puerto Rico is a beautiful country. There would be consequences. it is commonly known that Trump will eventually turn on you if you exhibit any independence of mind, whether you are in his cabinet, an election worker honorably performing one’s civic duty, or a certain type of American. He didn’t disown the garbage remark very quickly, and he won’t apologize for it. It seems quite clear Trump’s loyalty is to the PURE Maga voter. He is doing a poor job of appealing to other voters, even ones who he was winning over. By not apologizing he is holding his base close, keeping them elevated by letting the insult stand. He is showing Puerto Ricans that they are secondary or lower. Everyone has a place in the pecking order and where you reside is at Trump’s whim, even if he loses votes. (So very opposite of Kamala Harris, who wants everyone to have a seat — at the same table.) (I believe by serving his base to such an exclusivity, he is priming them to behave as they did on January 6th. He knows he is losing, and he is going to need them on November 5th). Back to The Joke — it was Trump’s, beyond a reasonable doubt. And even though someone else said it, it didn’t matter. Trump can take no cover in that. The comedian said the quiet part out loud. No one believes for a minute the comedian wasn’t his ventriloquist. The marginalized are not laughing because they have more to lose. This roast became a wake up call. The reaction was hey, we’re Americans too. And yet another group of people has to prove their worth and right to belong. This mission reinforced votes against Trump, and was amplified by high profile Puerto Rican artists whose following and fans run in the millions upon millions. It hasn’t been clear to me why Trump reportedly had such strong support among Puerto Ricans and Latinx. Ernesto Castañeda, head of the Center for Latin American and Latino Studies at American University, says that one of the reasons why so many Latinos support Trump is that they do not believe he is talking about them when he launches his tirades against immigrants. “Some of them say, ‘He’s not talking about me. He’s talking about others, the bad immigrants. I’m a good immigrant,’” Castañeda told me. That’s a tricky proposition, he added, because once you legitimize racial hatred against one ethnic group, you normalize hate against Jews, Muslims and all minorities. In addition, many Latinos living in Republican districts are so eager to blend into their communities that they adopt their neighbors’ pro-Trump stands. Some Hispanics “believe that the best way to be accepted as Americans is to vote for Trump. They think that will increase their sense of belonging,” Trump beckoned an entire territory into his mendacious worldview. Nothing really new there. But this is a group with a voice and muscle, some holding the most prominent positions possible in government and entertainment. Tropes as jokes were decoupled from ever maligned immigrants, and the garbage spilled over to Puerto Ricans, who have accomplished the American dream, because they ARE American. The joke cannot stand. Sadly, the immigrant living in shadows has very little by way of resources or even a vote, to fight off Trump’s libel. I think he knows this. Prominent Latinx voices who said Trump would be good for the economy have now rescinded their support. Stripping one of their humanity with a remark disguised as humor that lands as a personal attack trumps financial concerns (which are not backed by fact anyway). Maybe the collective memory of Trump tossing paper towels to Puerto Rican citizens during a catastrophe, and withholding aid, also has powered some anger. The comedians disabused anyone of the notion that one’s American status provides cover from Trump’s inclusive vitriol, parroting of Hitleresque rhetoric, and lies. Any group but core MAGA is at risk, especially one tied to something topical, drawn from information in the press he says he so abhors, but which gives him the publicity he needs. The inaugural targets of Trump’s xenophobia were Asian, with the Covid virus originating in Wuhan, China. Oh wait, Muslims were the first, hence the travel ban. We cannot be sure Trump even knows Puerto Ricans are Americans. Post The Joke, Jennifer Lopez gave an impassioned speech at a Kamala rally. As the umbraged spokesperson, she reveled in her Puerto Rican heritage. So much for entertainers who shouldn’t be mucking around in politics. She is speaking for her community and identity, and possibly helping to save our democracy as we know it. Why should she waste a perfectly good platform? As the election has progressed, for some it went from neutral to lukewarm support to oh, hell no. Grievance and impulse are the only things Trump’s really got. He couldn’t resist being the arbiter of his own downfall. Trump’s long running deployment of denigration has finally sunk him. He messed with the wrong voting bloc, as well as Jenny from the block. Badumbum. (I never said I was a comedian; maybe more principled, but not better than, Tony Hinchcliffe.) 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