JD Vance 'didn't hear' racist comments at Trump rally, pushes early voting and more from Wausau, Racine rallies

The day after Donald Trump hosted what some critics have called a "racist" rally in New York, his running mate JD Vance made a final stand in Wisconsin, encouraging voters to head to the polls.

The Sunday event, held at Madison Square Garden, was billed as the launch of Trump's last stand, heading into the final seven days before election day. But a number of the special guests invited to speak had comments that even the Trump campaign disavowed.

Vance turned to the swing state of Wisconsin after the rally. He stopped first in Wausau to deliver remarks to supporters in the early afternoon at an airplane hanger, and then made his way to Racine in the early evening and spoke to a crowd of about 600.

Here's what to know about his Wausau and Racine visits.

Vance 'didn't hear' racist comments made at Trump's NYC rally

Vance spoke in Wausau about Trump's Sunday rally held at Madison Square Garden in New York City, calling it a "celebration of America," despite the fact other Republicans have announced the outwardly racist remarks and jokes made during its 6-hour run.

The Sunday event began with comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who hosts the "Kill Tony" podcast, according to a report from Politico , who referred to Puerto Rico as a "floating pile of garbage in the middle of the ocean."

"I haven't seen the joke," he said, despite the fact that he attended the rally. "I'm not going to comment on the specifics of the joke, but I think that we have to stop getting so offended at every little thing in the United States of America. I'm just I'm so over it."

Vance criticized backlash against the rally, which some have characterized as appearing like a Nazi gathering from World War II.

"I find it honestly kind of funny that Kamala Harris thinks that the men who stormed the beach at Omaha would want taxpayer-funded gender transition surgeries for illegal aliens. That's why those guys stormed the beaches at Normandy, because they wanted to open up the American Southern border," he said.

"That's not what they wanted at all. They wanted common sense. They wanted freedom. They wanted liberty. They wanted somebody who would protect the Constitution."

Trump also targeted immigrants at his New York City rally, and vowed to weed out the "enemy within," Politico reported. Trump called for the death penalty for migrants who kill an American citizen or law enforcement officer.

While Vance also targeted immigrants Monday, repeating the oft-used lines that they are taking jobs and homes from U.S. citizens, he attempted to smooth over the heat generated by the weekend rally.

"Our country was built by frontiersmen who conquered the wilderness, we're not going to restore the greatness of American civilization if we get offended at every little thing," he said. "Let's have a sense of humor, and let's have a little fun, and let's go win in eight days."

At the end of the rally, Vance was asked about the tone of the Sunday rally, and if he was concerned about going into the final days of the campaign. When asked about the racist jokes, Vance brushed it off.

Vance on Trump's "plan" for mass deportation of illegal immigrants

On Friday, Johnson said massive deportations under a Trump administration is not going to happen.

“There’s not going to be some massive deportation of 10 million people,” Johnson said on Friday. “There will not be.”

Johnson said Republicans need to be “realistic” when it comes to those who are undocumented but have not committed any other crimes. His comments come in direct conflict with the Trump campaign.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel asked Vance in Racine if he agreed with Johnson, but he did not directly answer the question. He did say he talked with Johnson about not deporting millions of undocumented people.

“We’ve got to stop the large inflow of illegal immigration in the first place, and you do that by building the wall, reimplementing deportations and stopping the ridiculous catch and release policy of Kamala Harris,” Vance said.

He went on to say the violent criminal migrants need to be deported but others, if Trump is put back into office, will also be deported.

“You can’t go into this saying that every person that came in here illegally gets to stay in the United States of America,” Vance said. “If you do that, then you don’t have a real border. So, yes, we are going to deport people who came to the United States illegally. We have to or the American people are going to suffer.”

Vance said it should be harder for undocumented immigrants to work in the country.

“We want legal residents and citizens to be working in this country, not illegal labor,” Vance said adding he’s spoken to local law enforcement agencies that want to work with the federal government on immigration issues. “We empower our law enforcement to do their jobs and make it harder for illegal aliens to work in this country, I think it would go a long way to solving the immigration problem.”

'They got to come the right way'

Beyond violent migrants, Vance talked about other perceived issues he sees with the influx of undocumented immigrants at his Racine campaign stop.

“We don’t talk about the fact that we are often welcoming people into this country who don’t speak the native language,” Vance said.

Vance also blamed emergency room wait times that are “skyrocketing" on illegal immigrants.

"I don’t blame anybody from wanting to come to the United States of America," he said. "But first of all, they got to come the right way.”

In Wausau, Vance says he 'feels good' about Wisconsin

Vance rallied voters at the Central Wisconsin Airport, just outside of Wausau, where he said he saw Trump winning in the state next week.

"I feel very good about where we are, but knock on wood, because I'm a little superstitious," he said. "But I think the path that is actually going to be the one that we walk is going to have us winning Wisconsin, winning Michigan, winning Pennsylvania and really, really taking this country back in a big way."

He encouraged attendees to "vote 10 times" by going to the polling place with nine other people.

"We've got to make sure that we swamp the vote, because if we don't, we're going to have Kamala Harris as president of the United States," he said. "And I don't want to have four years of a nightmare for the United States of America. I want to get back to the peace and prosperity of Donald J. Trump."

Vance also encouraged supporters to vote early if possible. Early voting in the state began last Tuesday, and so far, voting locations have seen an influx of those looking to have their ballots filled in early.

As of Friday last week, over 292,000 people had voted, an increase of nearly 40% over 2020.

Sen. Ron Johnson calls for Kaul impeachment

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson was in Wausau with Vance and opened his speech by criticizing Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul for investigating Wausau Mayor Doug Diny for removing a ballot dropbox.

“This is the action of jackbootted thugs,” Johnson said of Kaul's office.

Johnson went further in saying Kaul is overstepping in his investigation of former Dane County Judge Jim Troupis, who was involved in Wisconsin’s fake electors scheme in 2020.

Johnson said Kaul’s office is trying to put Troupis “in jail and impoverishing him.”

Johnson then called on State Rep. Cory Tomczyk, R-Mosinee, and others in the Assembly to “impeach Josh Kaul.”

Tomczyk said Diny is "in the crosshairs of the liberals" likening this particular investigation to the John Doe investigation into former Gov. Scott Walker nearly 10 years ago.

"We no longer live in the country that we had 25 years ago," Tomczyk said. "If we don't get this right on Nov. 5 we may never again see the country we once knew and loved."

Tomczyk's speech turned dark when talking about investigations by the attorney general office and of Trump adding, "next it could be us."

Harris, Trump campaigns expected to appear several times in Wisconsin this week

Both presidential candidates are expected to make several appearances in Wisconsin over the next eight days leading up to November 5.

Harris will appear Wednesday at a Get Out the Vote rally in Madison, featuring musicians such as Mumford & Sons, Gracie Abrams, Remi Wolf, and members of The National.

Harris' running mate, Tim Walz, made a stop in Waukesha Monday morning, and was expected to appear in Manitowoc in the evening.

Trump will hold a rally in Green Bay Wednesday, appearing alongside Packers legend Brett Favre. He will also hold a rally at Fiserv Forum Friday.

Laura Schulte can be reached at [email protected] and on X at @SchulteLaura.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Immigration, early voting and more from Vance visit to Wisconsin