Latino political strategist responds to Puerto Rico jokes at Trump MSG rally

(NEW YORK) — Luis Miranda is a political strategist, community organizer, founding president of the Hispanic Federation and chairperson of the Latino Victory Fund, an organization dedicated to building political power in the Latino community.

Originally from Puerto Rico, he’s also the father of musician, writer and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda.

ABC News’ Linsey Davis sat down with Luis Miranda on Monday to talk about the comments made about Latinos and Puerto Rico at former President Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden campaign rally on Sunday, Trump’s criticism of former first lady Michelle Obama and his prediction for Puerto Rican voters’ reaction to this rhetoric.

ABC NEWS: Luis, thank you so much for joining us. First, I just want to get your reaction from, from those comments about Puerto Rico, from the comedian at last night’s rally.

MIRANDA: It’s not the first time that Puerto Ricans are insulted by Trump or his people. We remember when Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, how he withheld aid that Congress had appropriated to help Puerto Rico and used as an excuse that we were lazy and they wanted everything done for us.

So I think we’re going to mobilize some more and we’re going to go to those battleground states and make sure that we prove him wrong. We are not garbage and we are not lazy and we’re all American citizens ready to vote in this election.

ABC NEWS: The Trump campaign says the comedian’s words do not reflect its views. Do you believe that this has no bearing on the former president’s campaign platform?

MIRANDA: Listen, I listened to 5 minutes, while I was waiting for you, of the rally that it’s taking place, place in Georgia right now. And in those 5 minutes, he criticized Michelle Obama. I wondered if she’s now included in the list of enemies that he’s going to prosecute afterwards.

He then talked about transgender and how that it’s horrible. He talked about people coming from the border, being criminals. He’s talking about Latinos. He helped the crowd chant “Lock her up.” She, he criticized the fake news.

This is in 5 minutes, which means when you, that’s what is coming out of his mouth. When you organized a rally, when you organized a political event for yourself, for your party, every word that is said at that event represents who you are and the aspirations of your party and what you want to put in place if you were to be elected. This is exactly who Donald Trump is.

ABC NEWS: Do you think that this moment will galvanize Puerto Rican voters who were maybe going to sit this one out, or change the mind of those who were planning on voting for Trump?

MIRANDA: Listen, most people are going to vote for policies. We’re no different, Latinos. But what Trump did in this rally, it’s that he, the insult appeal to our heart, hurt our heart.

And those insults then mobilized people, people who were probably supporting the Democrats and Vice President Harris now said to themselves, “You know what? I was going to sit it out because I didn’t think it was important. But I don’t want this guy in the White House.”

I think the vice president said it best — we are exhausted, exhausted of this rhetoric, exhausted of this man constantly pitting one group against each other. And, and I think we are ready to move forward and close this page forever.

ABC NEWS: Mr. Luis Miranda, we thank you so much for your time and insight. Appreciate it.

MIRANDA: Thank you.

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