Will a racist joke about Puerto Rico change the US election?
The Take
Al Jazeera
4.7 • 748 Ratings
🗓️ 30 October 2024
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A joke at a Donald Trump rally has brought Puerto Ricans in the swing state of Pennsylvania into the spotlight. While Puerto Ricans on the island, a US commonwealth, cannot vote, on the mainland, could they change the course of the US election?
In this episode:
- Victor Martinez (@victor_vj_martinez), Host, El Relajo de la Mañana
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Amy Walters, Tamara Khandaker, and Chloe K Li, with Duha Mosaad, Hagir Saleh, Cole van Miltenburg, and our host, Natasha Del Toro in for Malika Bilal.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editor is Hisham Abu Salah. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.
Connect with us:
@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Threads and YouTube
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Al Jazeera Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | Today, the divisive U.S. election rhetoric that's put Puerto Rico in the spotlight. |
| 0:17.0 | There's literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. |
| 0:22.7 | Yeah. I think it's called Puerto Rico. |
| 0:26.6 | On the island, Puerto Ricans can't vote for U.S. president, but on the mainland, they can. |
| 0:33.1 | So in swing states like Pennsylvania, could they change the course of the U.S. election? |
| 0:39.8 | I'm Natasha Deltoro, and this is the take. |
| 0:49.0 | My name is Victor Martinez. I've been doing radio and television for the last 30 years here in the United States. |
| 0:55.8 | We have a morning show called El Relajo de la Manana. |
| 0:59.1 | We have five radio stations in the state of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Allentown, Redding, Lancaster, York, and Harrisburg. |
| 1:06.8 | Our audience is about 250,000 Latinos in the state. |
| 1:12.2 | And so we are in our studios here in Allentown. |
| 1:15.1 | Is that Allentown behind you? |
| 1:16.9 | Yes. |
| 1:17.4 | Yes. |
| 1:17.7 | As a matter of fact, this is the downtown Allentown. |
| 1:21.4 | Downtown is what's known as the Barrio. |
| 1:24.9 | This is where the Latino lives. |
| 1:26.6 | So right here is where the Latinos are at the Puerto Rican. This is where the Latino lives. So right here is where the Latinos are at the Puerto |
| 1:29.4 | Rican. This is where they're at. Allentown has a 55% Latino population. So Latinos are actually |
| 1:36.2 | the majority. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. We're really, really excited to talk with you here on the take. |
| 1:46.3 | So I know that you've already voted. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Al Jazeera, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Al Jazeera and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.