Bill Maher has warned that Joe Biden calling Trump supporters “trash” was a “bigger mistake than people think.”
Biden made the controversial comments after insult comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage’ during Donald Trump’s raucous rally last Sunday at Madison Square Garden.
The president told a group of Latino voters on a Zoom outreach call: “The only trash I see floating around is your supporters, your demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and un-American.”
Biden has said he wanted to refer only to Hinchcliffe as “trash,” not Trump supporters in general. This is something his administration has echoed, even to the point that White House press officials altered the official transcript of his remarks to better reflect what Biden supposedly meant.
But according to Maher the damage has already been done, saying Biden’s comments were worse than when Hillary Clinton referred to half of Trump’s supporters as “deplorables” in the 2016 election.
Bill Maher criticized Joe Biden for his comments disparaging Trump supporters as “trash,” saying they were worse than Hillary Clinton calling half of MAGA “deplorables.”
Joe Biden, who made the incendiary comments on a Zoom call with Latino voters, has tried to walk back what he said.
“I feel like it sums up everything the Trump people hate about Democrats,” Maher said. “It’s like ‘deplorables’ times ten.”
Trump himself agrees with Maher on this point, telling supporters at a rally in Pennsylvania last week that the “trash” comment trumps Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” analogy.
Maher also found it funny that Biden might have given up the perceived lead Democrats had after Trump’s rally in New York, because immediately afterward, the entire backlash was over Hinchcliffe’s joke about Puerto Rico.
Although mainland Puerto Ricans cannot vote in the presidential race, there are 580,000 Latinos in Pennsylvania who can vote this cycle, the majority of whom are Puerto Rican.
Pennsylvania remains one of the closest states between Trump and Kamala Harris.
“The result could be that Puerto Ricans in Pennsylvania win this election for Harris,” Maher said. “Or it could be the other way around.”
He even compared Biden to Aaron Judge, a New York Yankees outfielder who made a crucial mistake that some say led to their World Series loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Biden had been responding to a joke by Tony Hinchcliffe at a Trump rally that called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”
Maher’s guests Tim Miller, left, and Michael Moynihan disagreed about the potential impact Biden’s comments will have on the election.
“It’s so funny, Joe Biden, his whole career he was like Mr. Gaffe, and then at the end he’s like Aaron Judge in Game 6. He just blew the fucking fly ball and, in the end, he blew it all (the game),’ Maher said.
‘The Fifth Column’ podcast co-host Michael Moynihan, who was on Maher’s panel, agreed with the liberal host that what Biden said will be detrimental to Harris’ prospects.
Moynihan said Trump voters he’s spoken to already assume the media and “elites” hate them, and what Biden said only strengthens that belief.
Tim Miller, a libertarian commentator for The Bulwark, disagreed that Biden’s comments will be what causes Harris to lose the White House.
He said he thought it was a “wash” after Trump decided to hit back at Biden by arriving at a rally last week in a garbage truck and wearing a bright orange vest.
“I don’t know if it’s a net positive, but having the elderly president give a marble-mouthed answer results in an elderly competitor dressed as an oompa-loompa garbage man,” Miller said. “That’s kind of a wash for me.”
‘What do you think of my garbage truck? “This truck is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden,” he told reporters in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Trump appeared at a rally in Wisconsin last week in a garbage truck while wearing a bright orange vest to troll Biden.
Both Donald Trump Jr. and Megyn Kelly followed in Trump’s footsteps, escalating the attack on Biden by dressing up as trash for Halloween.
Trump apparently inspired other conservatives to lean into the “trash” attack, including his own son.
Donald Trump Jr. and podcast host Megyn Kelly decided to use trash bags as costumes for Halloween.
Maher then returned to the origin of this saga: Hinchcliffe himself. As a comedian, Maher defended him and worried that Democrats might appear insensitive for attacking him so forcefully.
‘Democrats seemed weak because they can’t take a joke?’ -Maher asked. “Because I think that’s another Achilles heel that they have.”
Harris’ running mate Tim Walz and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were among the many Democrats who condemned the prank.
“Look, I have to defend my profession,” Maher added. ‘I’m a comedian. I’m a free speech absolutist… This was offensive. But this guy is an insult comedian.
