Trump himself seized on Biden’s comment, saying it was ‘worse’ than what Clinton said eight years ago.
President Joe Biden referred to Donald Trump supporters as ‘garbage’ in an astonishing statement as Vice President Kamala Harris issued her ‘closing’ plea in the 2024 election
Former US President and Republican Presidential Candidate Donald J. Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA, October 2, 2024
Biden later disputed that he had called Trump supporters ‘garbage’. He said that by ‘garbage’ he meant ‘hateful rhetoric’ that had been on display at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday.
The president was weighing in after a pro-Trump comedian at that rally compared Puerto Rico to a ‘floating island of garbage’.
Biden said: ‘The only garbage I see floating out there is his (Trump’s) supporters.’
He made the comment on a Zoom call organized by the advocacy group Voto Latino.
Biden told those on the call: ‘And just the other day, a speaker at his (Trump’s rally called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage”.
‘Well, let me tell you something. I don’t, I, I don’t know the Puerto Rican that, that I know, or a Puerto Rico. Where I’m from, in my home state of Delaware, they’re good, decent, honorable people.
‘The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters, His, his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.’
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As the gaffe exploded Biden sought to limit the damage.
He said on X: ‘Earlier today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage – which is the only word I can think of to describe it.
‘His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say. The comments at that rally don’t reflect who we are as a nation.’
In 2016 Hillary Clinton called Trump supporters ‘deplorables’
US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris arrives to speak on The Ellipse just south of the White House in Washington, DC, on October 2
At a fundraiser in 2016, Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee at the time, dismissed Trump supporters by saying that ‘half’ fit into what she called a ‘basket of deplorables.’
When Biden’s comment emerged Trump was at a rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He was told about it by Republican senator Marco Rubio while still on stage.
Joe Biden made the comment on a Zoom call with VotoLatino.org
Rubio told the crowd: ‘We are not garbage, we are patriots, we love America.’
Trump recalled Clinton’s ‘deplorables’ remark and said: ‘Garbage, I think. is worse.’
He added: ‘Please forgive him (Biden) because he knoweth not what he said.’
Supporters listen as Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at PPL Center, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2024, in Allentown, Pa
Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance said of Biden’s comment: ‘This is disgusting. Kamala Harris and her boss Joe Biden are attacking half of the country. There’s no excuse for this. I hope Americans reject it.’ 
Donald Trump Jr. said: ‘The media spent all week crying about a joke from a comedian. Meanwhile, Tim Walz called Trump supporters Nazis. Kamala Harris refused to condemn it.
‘And now Kamala’s biggest Democrat ally, Joe Biden, is calling all Trump supporters “garbage”. Absolutely disgusting!!!’
Elon Musk, the Trump-supporting Tesla and SpaceX chief, added: ‘Biden just called half of America ‘garbage.’
