A racist joke aimed at Puerto Ricans has sparked aftershocks that could shake up the election

Ahead of Donald Trump's appearance on Tuesday in the Latin American city of Allentown, Pennsylvania, a comedian's racist joke about Puerto Ricans at the former president's rally at Madison Square Garden sparked renewed criticism.

In an editorial endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris, Puerto Rico's largest national newspaper, El Nuevo Día, expressed painful outrage at the remark made at Sunday's New York rally.

“Today, all of us who love this beautiful garden of America and the world feel an inner pain and our hearts are tense with anger and pain,” the editorial said.

“For years, Trump has waged a discourse of contempt and misinformation against the island, revealing an obsession and contempt for a people who do not have the power of voice to defend themselves, as the three million American citizens who live in Puerto Rico , “cannot vote” in the presidential election,” the editorial said. “However, the other five million living in the United States who also call them trash can vote.”

One of those five million Puerto Rican voters is Allentown resident Efraín Dávila.

He told NBC News he believes Trump “let it happen,” referring to the jokes aimed at his home country. Dávila, an independent voter who previously voted Republican, said he no longer supports that party because “it’s all about Trumpism and MAGA.”

Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny added to the firestorm over these comments by releasing a stunning 8-minute video on Tuesday, narrated by Oscar-winning Puerto Rican actor Benicio Del Toro. Using stunning cinematography, the video shows how the Puerto Rican people have endured trials and tribulations throughout history and overcome the odds to emerge as world-renowned artists, activists, athletes and political activists. Bad Bunny captioned the poignant and powerful video on his Instagram, “Garbage.”

On Tuesday afternoon, at a business roundtable in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, Trump said that no president has done more for Puerto Rico than he has, after an attendee told the former president that Puerto Rico loves him and has his back. He didn't mention the joke.

Hinchcliffe made his racist jokes during a campaign in which Republicans said they would target Latinos as Americans. Earlier this year, Trump's campaign renamed its Hispanic outreach group Latinos for Trump to Latino Americans for Trump.

That message has helped Trump and Republicans rally Latinos to the economic issue, but racial and cultural identity remain a button that can be pushed, said Democratic pollster Carlos Odio, co-founder of research firm EquisLabs.

Republicans say, “‘You belong in our party. Ignore all the nasty rhetoric because economically we are where you are,” Odio said. “It's moments like this that reinforce the extent to which many Hispanics, including Puerto Ricans in this case, feel that Republicans aren't going to take care of them at the end of the day.”

Rafaela Gomez of Pennsylvania attended the rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. Gomez, who is of Dominican descent, was back in her hometown of Allentown on Tuesday. She said she still supports Trump.

“Trump had nothing to do with this,” Gomez said.

Gomez, who is married to a Puerto Rican man who also supports Trump, said that while she “doesn't agree with calling Puerto Rican people trash,” she believes the joke was aimed at exposing how “the current government has failed Puerto Rico.”

Hinchcliffe did not refer to the Biden administration or any other administration when discussing Puerto Rico.

A Hispanic Federation/Latino Victory poll of Latinos in battleground states shows Harris has 57% of the Hispanic vote in Pennsylvania, compared to 27% for Trump and 11% undecided. The Oct. 2-10 poll of 1,900 registered Latino voters in eight battleground states found an overall margin of error of 2.3%.

When Trump announced his 2016 presidential bid by denigrating people from Mexico – calling them rapists and claiming they brought crime and drugs with them – some voters explained it as a mere reference to immigrants. He lost some Latino Republican supporters with that comment and made even more at a subsequent rally in Arizona, but others remained and he has since gained new Latino support.

But the comedian attacked Puerto Ricans at his rally who are American citizens by birth and not immigrants, said Mike Madrid, a Republican consultant who opposes Trump.

Harris is already doing better with Latinos and Republican defectors, Madrid said. The backlash from the comments was only slightly enough to shift a small portion of their vote, 1% to 2%, in their favor, and “that's the whole state,” Madrid said.

The outrage from Puerto Rican celebrities like Bad Bunny, JLo, Marc Anthony and Geraldo Rivera, who have expressed support for Harris or their disdain for Trump and the comedian's jokes on social media, could have such an impact, he said.

Madrid added that it was harder to pass up the comedian's racist jokes because they didn't come from Trump.

Trump “has so jaded us with his own racist hatred that if it had been Donald Trump (who made the jokes), the jokes would have disappeared an hour after the incident,” Madrid said. “When other voices on stage commit racist attacks, we feel shocked and ashamed again.”

Frankie Miranda, president and CEO of the Hispanic Federation, a nonpartisan, Latino-focused nonprofit, called the dump joke “a real punch in the gut – a stark reminder of how the candidate has felt about our community since Hurricane Maria.” “

The group is not advocating this, but is already planning to reach three million people with its “get out the vote” campaign.

“Now we are making sure that Puerto Ricans in Pennsylvania understand our position and response to this,” said Miranda, whose grandmother died after Hurricane Maria when the island was without power. “As a Puerto Rican, I feel an obligation to convey our response and reaction to this to everyone in our network.”

While the general consensus among Puerto Ricans surveyed is to condemn the racist joke, the discrepancy lies primarily in whether or not they believe Trump is responsible for the comments.

Gardner Mojica, Gomez's husband and fellow Trump supporter, believes “Trump had nothing to do with it” and says his candidate “does not support racism and he would not call Puerto Rico an island of trash.”

After Trump's rally in Allentown, award-winning “Hamilton” creator Lin Manuel-Miranda planned a celebration of Puerto Rican culture in Philadelphia on Wednesday to counter the portrayal of the island as trash, Miranda said.

Nicole Acevedo reported from New York, Suzanne Gamboa from San Antonio and George Solis from Allentown.