Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the comedian whose racist joke about Puerto Rico at a Trump campaign rally sparked outrage is a "friend" — while faulting him for giving Democrats a political "gift."
In a lengthy post on social media, Kennedy described insult comic Tony Hinchcliffe as "my friend" and praised his talent.
"His special comedic aptitude for shattering orthodoxies and offending sensitivities has made him the king of roast comedy," Kennedy wrote Friday on X. "I was therefore dismayed — but not shocked — at his offensive joke about Puerto Rico at President Trump's Madison Square Garden rally last weekend."
The failed independent presidential candidate also said Hinchcliffe's description of Puerto Rico as a "floating island of garbage" during a widely panned routine was a "gift to [Democratic National Committee] strategists striving to blunt President Trump's exploding support among Latinos."
Kennedy's claim about surging Latino support for Trump came the same day Florida International University said a poll it conducted showed that "most Latino voters say they support Vice President Kamala Harris."
The FIU poll, conducted Oct. 10 to 22 before Sunday's rally, found Harris had a 54.7 percent favorability rating in the seven key swing states, compared to 22.7 percent for Trump.
On Oct. 21, a USA Today/Suffolk University poll conducted Oct. 14-18 showed Trump leading Harris among Latinos nationwide, 49% to 38%, with a margin of error of 9 percentage points.
USA Today acknowledged that the results were an outlier and involved a "small" subsample of those surveyed.
Earlier polls tracked by the Americas Society/Council of the Americas showed Latino support for Trump at 40 percent, compared to 52 percent for Harris in New York Times/Siena College survey conducted from Sept. 29 to Oct. 6.
Trump's support was unchanged from an Sept. 16-23 NBC/Telemundo/CNBC poll and up just 1 percentage point from an Aug. 26-Sept. 7 Pew Research Center poll, according to AS/COA.
