'Unforced error': CNN’s Tapper presses GOP senator who won’t condemn comedian’s remarks

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) on Tuesday suggested that comedian Tony Hinchcliffe's offensive and racist remark about Puerto Rico during Donald Trump's Madison Square Garden rally Sunday was nothing more than an "unforced error."

CNN's Jake Tapper rolled a clip of the former president at his Mar-a-Lago estate today, completely disregarding the fact that Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico "a floating island of garbage."

The MAGA leader said, "I don't think anybody has ever seen anything like what happened the other night at Madison Square Garden," Trump said. "The love in that room."

Speaking to Rounds, Tapper commented, "We heard some really rough and offensive things from some of the speakers, including, of course the comedian who called Puerto Rico 'a floating island of garbage' there are a number of Republicans who criticized that comedian, and the event including your colleague, Senator Rick Scott of Florida. Do you think it would be better if Trump just acknowledged and apologized for those comments as opposed to saying it was just a love fest? What's your take on it?"

The GOP senator replied, "First of all, I know the campaign through [Trump campaign senior adviser] Ms. [Danielle] Alvarez indicated that Mr. Trump was not aware of it beforehand, and that they did not agree with those comments. I do think that having that particular comedian on there at that time and what he did, even though I don't think it was jokes were cleared by the campaign. It was an unforced error. And when you have that, you have to identify the fact that it is not the way that you believe about a particular group of people, or for that matter, Puerto Rico. Look, Puerto Rico has been through some terrible, terrible weather and those folks need all the help they can get. They don't need to have anybody taking a second shot at them."

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Tapper then played a clip from right-wing commentator Megyn Kelly, who criticized "the overall tone" of the event, and its blatant disregard for women.

Kelly declared, "it was too bro-tastic, okay? It was. You're trying to win an election, in which you're hemorrhaging female voters. Maybe when you present in front of hundreds — thousands, at least — at Madison Square Garden, you clean up the bro talk just a little bit. So you don't alienate women in the middle of America who are already on the fence about Republicans. We're trying to get him elected. We don't need to rally the base or guys anymore."

Tapper asked the South Dakota lawmaker, "Doesn't she have a point for these last seven days? "Wouldn't it be better to like you got the men voting for you, doesn't she have a point about the tone in these last seven days?"

"Look, I think both campaigns have to change the tone," Rounds replied. "And by that, I mean, let's get down and talk about the facts. let's talk about the issues that real Americans are concerned with. The rhetoric going both ways right now, the back and forth. I mean, I think it started when the guys were talking about their golf games, rather than talking about substance it's in the first debate. So what I'd like to see is both of these two camps actually focused on things that Americans are concerned about. They're concerned about inflation. They're concerned about the cost of groceries. They're really concerned about the border, about what we're going to do to stop we had 101,000 additional individuals illegally cross that border here in September."

Watch the video below or at this link.