This week in election integrity
During former President Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City on October 27, podcaster Tony Hinchcliffe attacked Puerto Rico, calling it “literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean.” Although the remarks sparked outrage, numerous right-wing media figures have defended him.
Hinchcliffe didn’t make the remarks in isolation. Trump-aligned media figures have previously dismissed or denigrated Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory whose residents are American citizens. Trump allies have claimed that Puerto Ricans shouldn’t be allowed to serve as federal judges because they’re “not even from this country”; mocked Puerto Rico as a “third world country”; and told a Puerto Rican “who can barely speak English” to “go back” to “your country”; and questioned, “Why don’t the illegals ever want to go to Puerto Rico?”
Meanwhile, the Monday edition of Fox’s new Spanish-language show, Fox Noticias, failed to mention the racist comments.
If Trump returns to the White House, the fate of the U.S. press may rest on whether corporate executives who control mammoth multimedia conglomerates are willing to prioritize the journalistic credibility of the news outlets they oversee over their own business interests.
Trump will put wealthy media magnates to the test, forcing them to decide whether they are willing to suffer painful consequences for keeping their outlets free of influence, or whether they will either compel their journalists to knuckle under or sell their outlets to someone who will.
Trump spent his presidency demanding that his administration target his perceived political enemies and has said he would be even less restrained in enacting “retribution” in a second term. In recent months, prominent commentators have warned that the press could become such a target of Trump, whose own former top aides describe him as a fascist.
As Media Matters’ Matt Gertz warns: “These fears that Trump would use a second term to crack down on the press are rational. The former president demands sycophantic coverage and describes those who do not provide it as the ‘enemy of the people.’ Trump’s rhetoric and record show that he is keenly aware of the vulnerabilities some news outlets have and is eager to exploit them if he returns to the White House.”
After rolling back its election misinformation policy last year, YouTube allowed right-wing media figures to undermine confidence in the 2024 election results even before any votes were cast, with streamers asserting that “the only way this election can be won from the left is if it’s stolen,” suggesting that “illegal ballots” might be “slipped in” in Pennsylvania, and claiming that Democrats are trying “to rig and steal the election” including with an “illegal alien push.”
In December 2020, YouTube began removing content with false claims that widespread fraud had changed the outcome of the election, but the platform reversed that policy in June 2023. Over the last year, right-wing creators have exploited YouTube's policy rollback, especially in the months leading up to the 2024 election.
In July, Media Matters reported that after becoming co-chair of the Republican National Committee in March, Lara Trump repeatedly engaged in election denial on her show that streams on YouTube. Right-wing podcaster Steven Crowder even acknowledged the policy change in an August stream on the platform, saying, “Here’s another way that they try to steal this election from you. And we’re allowed to say that on YouTube now, which is great.” And it now looks like YouTube is even profiting from conservative streamer and serial plagiarist Benny Johnson’s false claims of election fraud.
