This week former President Donald Trump had a rally at Madison Square Garden with a string of speakers spewing offensive and bigoted rhetoric. One speaker taunted the crowd “I hear there is an island of garbage floating in the ocean… It’s called Puerto Rico”. And none of the speakers that followed disassociated themselves from the comment. It was obviously a repugnant comment to Puerto Ricans, but it was emblematic of Trump’s “divide and conquer,” hyper nationalist rhetoric that represents the essence of his campaign. It is also a great vignette of the ignorance of their attack. They represent “Americans” against the “invaders.” Puerto Ricans are Americans! There are approximately 6 million Puerto Ricans across this nation and there are more Puerto Ricans in New York than anywhere besides Puerto Rico itself. They are an integral part of the American community and their contribution to the American experience is broad and deep. Puerto Ricans have been by our side literally since this nation’s founding in 1776. Gen. Bernardo de Galvez was governor of Louisiana, and led Puerto Ricans in battle against the British in the deep South. Puerto Ricans fought in the Civil War and the Spanish-American War. In every aspect of society, from sports, arts, government, science and medicine, Puerto Ricans have made invaluable contributions even prior to their becoming American citizens in 1917. As a New Yorker I have grown-up with Puerto Ricans as neighbors, friends, colleagues, and family members and have deep affection and respect for the community. Puerto Rico, as an island in the northeastern Caribbean, has been under near constant assault by Mother Nature. Tropical storms and hurricanes, many say are increasing due to climate change, have posed great challenges. For decades I have personally experienced the resilience, strength, endurance, and generosity of the Puerto Rican people during the worst of times. When I was in the federal government as housing and urban development secretary in the 1990s and was on the ground for many of the devastating natural disasters. As governor of New York, we brought unprecedented assistance to Puerto Rico. We mobilized hundreds of New Yorkers to assist with rebuilding and vital donations of resources and supplies in numbers more generous than I could have expected. In many ways, New York has responded to fill the void left by the federal government. In truth, the despicable comment made in Madison Square Garden was especially hurtful because this country has treated Puerto Rico with disrespect and disregard in many ways for many years. It brought back the demeaning picture of Trump throwing paper towels to desperate Puerto Ricans in 2017 after the devastation of Hurricane Maria. Puerto Rico, as an unincorporated territory of the United States, is a commonwealth — not a state — and therefore has no voting rights in Congress and does not vote in the presidential elections. Even though Puerto Rico is home to some of the Americans with the greatest needs, it has never received the assistance and attention it deserves. Federal assistance such as tax incentives, access to health care, economic development efforts, and storm recovery have been sporadic, fragmented, and unreliable. Basic systems are still inferior. Puerto Rico still struggles because it does not have a reliably functioning power system in place. In the closing days of a political campaign one sees the essence of a candidate’s appeal. The 25 speakers in Madison Square Garden sequentially and systematically insulted Jews, LGBTQ, Muslims, Blacks, Latinos, anyone who they could classify as “different” from “real Americans.” The fundamental error in this racist, bigoted, nationalist screed is that there are no “real Americans” (unless you include indigenous people, which Trump clearly does not). We are all from somewhere else. There is nothing new or novel about Trump’s approach: to highlight and demonize the differences among us as a source of spreading fear and anger. It’s political cancer: a virus purposely injected into the American body politic to separate one cell from another. It can lead to the death of a nation. It is an old lesson and we have seen it throughout history across the globe. We must remember we are the “United” States of America and follow the better angels of our nature. Cuomo was the 56th governor of New York and head of the Department of Housing and Urban Development during the Clinton administration.