The Jersey Shore star breaks down his political views on his podcast, saying he's "not a MAGA guy," but "a Dark MAGA guy," claiming he's "not part of the religious cult," while also weighing in on Tony Hinchcliffe's controversial jokes, and going viral for being there.
Vinny Guadagnino is opening up about attending Donald Trump's controversial rally at Madison Square Garden.
On Tuesday's episode of his Something Went Wrong podcast, the Jersey Shore star addressed his appearance at Trump's rally after he was roasted by fans online. Vinny also detailed his political views and explained why he doesn't consider himself to be a stereotypical Trump supporter.
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View Story"Today is an interesting day because last night I attended the 'pro-Israel Nazi' rally. I was getting confused," Vinny, 36, began. "There was the Jewish flag, and then on the other side, there [were] swastikas. It was a little bit of an oxymoron you know what I mean?"
"I attended the Trump rally in MSG, Madison Square Garden. It was pretty cool," he continued. "There [were] a lot of great speakers there. Obviously, you guys know what it was, and yeah I guess some people are shocked that I was there. Some people are not shocked that I was there. I didn't think it was kind of going to globally make so much noise. I thought that it would just kind of be a thing that people are like, 'Oh that's whatever.'"
"I think that people who hate him so much, they cling on to whatever they can to hate him and to go viral for hating him and I was that viral thing of the moment," he added.
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View StoryThe MTV star noted how there are "not a lot" of celebrities who attend Trump rallies, but he decided to attend to see the "lineup of these amazing people," he's going to see them at Madison Square Garden, adding that the area is only "10 minutes away" from where he lives.
He added that whether people "like it or not," he believes that the event featured a "historic lineup" of speakers, naming Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Vivek Ramaswamy, Tulsi Gabbard, Elon Musk, Dana White, and Tucker Carlson.
Vinny said he went as "a regular guy," noting that although he's on a reality show he's "not a Hollywood guy."
"People are allowed to have political beliefs and believe in different things," he said. "It doesn't mean that you should hate them. It doesn't mean anything it's just allowed. It's just what makes the world go around is disagreements and stuff like that."
"Jersey Shore" Vinny Guadagnino and his family are in the front row of Donald Trump's Madison Square Garden rally, per a source at the venue. pic.twitter.com/d83v6OuVWt
— Kadia Goba (@kadiagoba) October 27, 2024 @kadiagoba
"I'm Not Part of the Religious Cult"
Vinny went on to explain the type of Trump supporter he is, claiming that he's not in a "cult" and considers himself to be "Dark MAGA."
"I live in rational thought; people talking about policies, but respectfully disagreeing," he said, using Tim Walz and JD Vance's relatively calm vice presidential debate as an example. "That's the world I live in, but it still might end up falling on the right."
Vinny added that while he's "not joining a religious cult," he said he understands that there are Trump supporters who are much more extreme, noting that he did see "a lot of people like that" at the rally.
Sharing an example, Vinny said one Trump supporter he spoke to said he used to have a sandwich business but "had to stop" after he was arrested for participating in the January 6 insurrection.
"I'm not part of the religious cult," he reiterated, adding that there are only two candidates to choose from.
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View Story"I don't vote for as much as the person because the person's not God -- not Kamala or Trump -- they're not God," he said. "They just represent a group of policies that you're either in favor of or you're not. And you only get two choices."
Vinny said that Trump wouldn't be his "first choice," noting that his "first choice" would be others who spoke at the rally, with the reality star naming Gabbard, RFK Jr., and Ramaswamy.
"I'm voting for the people who are endorsing Trump as much as I am voting for Trump," he added, after sharing that he's a registered Independent.
Meanwhile, Vinny also praised Musk, saying that like the Tesla founder, he's "Dark MAGA."
"I'm not a MAGA guy. I'm a Dark MAGA. Dark MAGA is different. Dark MAGA is a little bit of a subset of MAGA," he explained. "It's a little more nerdy. It's less religious, less culty."
"It's more of just like, 'I think putting a 30% tariff on China is going to reduce inflation by 7%.' Regular Trump supporters aren't saying that," he said. "They're just like, 'Storm the Capitol!' Not Dark MAGA."
He again added that he feels that Dark MAGA represents more "rational thought, not a cultish religious, angry, outrageous political thing."
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View StoryVinny's "No. 1 Policy"
Vinny detailed his political views, sharing that he grew up Democrat and wasn't "brainwashed into being a Republican." He added that he studied political science in college.
He also revealed this is the first election that he's voting Republican, saying he voted for former President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Vinny named some policies that matter to him and what concerns him. He said he's "scared of World War III."
"I think over the last four years, there has been crazy escalation in the world and we're f--king with nuclear weapons, bro," he said. "The Middle East is going f--king crazy. Every time we see missiles going in all different directions, it's f--king terrifying. Russia and Ukraine are fighting, we forgot about terrifying that one was there's another one that broke out. North Korea's getting involved now. China's f--king facing off with Taiwan. This is crazy, and this did not happen when Trump was president for four years."
"Yeah, of course, there [were] conflicts here and there or whatever. I'm not going to say, 'No wars at all!' he added. "But on that factor alone ... that's my No. 1 policy."
Vinny then went on a rant about Dick Cheney, noting that the former VP has endorsed Harris, and therefore he believes she's "aligning" with Cheney's "military-industrial complex."
Concluding his discussion, he said, "In a nutshell, that's kind of, again, why I would vote right over left for this time around."
"You have the right to vote for whoever you vote for, and I'm not going to attack anybody who votes the other way," he continued. "I'm not going to throw eggs at them, and I'm not going to say you're a f--king warmonger or criminal because you're on the side of Dick Cheney. It's just like, 'You do you. Imma do me.'"
Vinny did note, however, that he was "hoping to find a nice MAGA girl" at the rally.
"Guys, don't hate me. It's okay," he concluded. "We could have different opinions, and you know, next time around when there's a better candidate [who] I believe in more of their policies that will end wars and fix the economy ..."
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View StoryVinny Weighs In On Tony Hinchcliffe's Controversial Joke
Vinny and his cohost, comedian Mike Figs, also shared their thoughts on Tony Hinchcliffe's controversial joke about Puerto Ricans that he made during Trump's rally.
In his set on Sunday, Hinchcliffe said in part, "Republicans are the party with the good sense of humor. I don't know if you guys know this, but there is literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it's called Puerto Rico?"
His comments, understandably, angered and offended many Puerto Ricans and Latin Americans overall.
Vinny brought up the topic, saying that his "spicy Latinas are angry today,"
"So I'm a comic. I do comedy every night so I'm never gonna clutch my pearls at a joke," he explained. "I'm more upset at the Trump campaign for even putting an insult comic up at Madison Square Garden in front of a holy Southern conservative crowd at 1:00 p.m. on the Lord's Day, on a Sunday. I don't even see the benefit [of] it."
"Tony's going to do what Tony does. If this was in the context of Kill Tony, the set would have been a thousand times worse, and nobody would have batted an eye," he continued referring to Hinchcliffe's comedy podcast, "but taking out Tony, the insult comic, and then putting him at the top, it was a weird placement. I was there, it was nowhere even near the other speakers and s--t."
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View StoryVinny added while he believes Edgelord comedy is "making a comeback," in MSG, it felt that "we were codeswitched into like, 'Are we watching like the Tom Brady roast?' Are we watching the Al Smith dinner like Jim Gaffigan just did?'"
"By the way he did a better job of being edgy but not giving the world bait to be like, 'That was literally the worst racist thing I've ever heard,'" he noted.
Vinny said some people in the room laughed, while others didn't. "It was more of just like, 'What is going on?' 'Is this okay?'" he added.
However, he said he didn't think the reaction would be as huge as it was.
"I didn't know it was going to be this whole complete eruption into the whole world to where that's all they're talking about," he explained. "All they're talking about is that, and seeing me!"
Figs, who is half Puerto Rican, also weighed in, saying that as a comic and a fan of Hinchcliffe he "thought it was all funny."
However, he agreed with Vinny that he felt that the Hinchcliffe shouldn't have been placed first.
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View StoryVinny noted that he wasn't sure why Hinchcliffe mentioned Puerto Rico instead of another country like Venezuela or Mexico, which is "on topic" with Trump's narrative about immigrants.
He also questioned why the campaign had Hinchcliffe to begin with and how his attendance benefitted the event.
Vinny ended the nearly 40-minute conversation by noting that he doesn't think he could "convince" any undecided voter by endorsing Trump.
"The funniest part about me. It's like, 'What undecided voter am I going to convince?'" he said. "You think somebody doesn't know who to vote for at this point, and they're waking up, and they're like, 'Okay, Vinny from Jersey Shore is endorsing Trump, I think I'll vote for him.'"
"The whole world thinks I'm a f--king fist-pumping idiot," he continued. "If anything, Kamala should probably be paying me for, you know, going to that Trump rally because then they're like 'Oh, I'm not voting for whoever that guy votes for.'"
See more celebrity Trump supporters here. Check out all the stars who have already voted in the 2024 election in the gallery, below.