The White House panicked Tuesday night after President Biden referred to Donald Trump’s supporters as “trash.”
The president was speaking to a Latino advocacy group when he made the brazen mistake that drew instant comparisons to Hillary Clinton’s infamous dismissal of Trump voters as “deplorables” in 2016.
‘Just the other day, a speaker at his (Trump’s) rally called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage,”‘ Biden reiterated to a Latino advocacy group.
‘The only trash I see floating around are his supporters, his demonization of Latinos is excessive and un-American. It is totally contrary to everything we have done, everything we have been.”
In a desperate attempt to clean up the 81-year-old president’s mess, a White House spokesperson added an apostrophe to the word “partisan” to imply that Biden was only referring to one person.
The White House panicked Tuesday night after President Biden referred to Donald Trump’s supporters as “trash.”
The commander in chief, 81, called Donald Trump supporters “trash,” evoking memories of Hillary Clinton’s infamous dismissal of Trump voters as “deplorables” in 2016, which contributed to her shocking loss.
Biden’s team also provided a transcript of what he said, bizarrely claiming that he used the word “supporters” as a possessive – spelled “supporters” – and that he was only criticizing comedian Tony Hinchcliffe for making the joke about Puerto Rico is an “island.” of garbage’
The damage control statement insisted that Biden was referring to a single supporter: comedian Tony Hinchcliffe for making the joke that Puerto Rico is a “garbage island.”
“Today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by the Trump supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage, which is the only word I can think of to describe it,” Biden said in his own clean-up statement .
‘His demonization of Latinos is disproportionate. That’s all I wanted to say. “The comments at that rally do not reflect who we are as a nation.”
However, people on both sides of the aisle were perplexed or outraged by the president’s statement.
Supporters listen as former President Donald Trump, Republican presidential candidate, speaks at a campaign rally at the PPL Center, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Former President Trump seized on Biden’s comment and declared it was “worse” than what Clinton said eight years ago, and Democrats immediately began distancing themselves from the president.
His running mate, JD Vance, posted several angry tweets about the incident, writing, “Kamala Harris and Joe Biden should be ashamed of themselves.”
And he added: ‘A mother mourning her son who died from a fentanyl overdose is not trash. A trucker who can’t afford rising diesel prices isn’t trash. A father who wants to buy food is not rubbish.’
The Trump campaign’s social media account posted the video and commented: “When Joe wakes up and wonders why his intern tweeted this, we’ll leave it here as a reminder.”
Trump seized on Biden’s comment and declared it was “worse” than what Clinton said eight years ago, and Democrats immediately began distancing themselves from the president.
Even some liberals were outraged by Biden’s comments.
“As leader of the Democratic Party, President Biden had ONE task tonight: STFU and let the incumbent candidate have the news cycle,” wrote Leah McElrath. “However you interpret his words, he wasn’t able to do that.”
It came as Harris hoped to capture the nation’s full attention with a carefully planned rally outside the White House for 75,000 Democrats a week before Election Day. Harris used the event to make her final argument for why she should be elected president.
New York Magazine writer Jonathan Chait added: “I think Biden was trying to paint the speaker’s comment, not all Trump supporters, as garbage.” I also think Biden should stay away from the cameras and the media, but his ego won’t allow it.”
Poll aggregator and author Nate Silver went a step further, suggesting that the comments made Biden unfit to continue his outgoing term.
Biden’s team claimed he was only criticizing comedian Tony Hinchcliffe who performed at Sunday’s rally at Madison Square Garden.
“The fact that he cannot consistently speak clearly to a point of reasonable understanding might also seem to imply that he should not be the president of the United States,” the author of The Signal and the Noise wrote.
One journalist, John Harwood, attempted to calm anger against Biden, saying that “the fake outrage over Biden’s comment is garbage.”
When Biden’s comment emerged, Trump was at a rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Republican Senator Marco Rubio told him while he was still on stage.
Rubio told the crowd that he had “breaking news” and that Biden had called it “trash.” And he added: “We are not trash, we are patriots, we love the United States.”
Trump said “that’s terrible” and recalled Clinton’s “deplorable” comment. He added: “Rubbish, I think.” It’s worse.”
He added: “Please forgive him (Biden) because he doesn’t know what he said.”
Donald Trump Jr. said: ‘The media spent all week crying over a comedian’s joke. Meanwhile, Tim Walz called Trump supporters Nazis. Kamala Harris refused to condemn him.
‘And now Kamala’s biggest Democratic ally, Joe Biden, is calling all Trump supporters “trash.” Absolutely disgusting!!!’
Elon Musk, the Trump-supporting Tesla and SpaceX boss, added: “Biden just called half of America ‘trash.'”
Josh Shapiro, governor of the key battleground state of Pennsylvania, was one of the first Democrats to distance himself from Biden’s comment.
Shapiro was live on CNN when he was informed of the comment.
He said, “I would never insult the good people of Pennsylvania or any American, even if they decided to support a candidate I do not support.”
“They’re certainly not words I would choose.”
People on both sides of the aisle were either perplexed or outraged by the president’s statement.
United States Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks at The Ellipse, just south of the White House in Washington, DC, on October 29, 2024.
Spokesman Andrew Bates said Biden “referred to the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as ‘trash.'”
At a 2016 fundraiser, Clinton, the Democratic presidential candidate at the time, dismissed Trump supporters as “half” fitting into what she called a “basket of deplorables.”