President Joe Biden is under fire for calling tens of millions of Trump supporters “garbage” during a Zoom meeting with a Latino-outreach group.
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden said, referring to the controversial joke about Puerto Rico made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe during former president Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden last weekend.
“His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American,” Biden added.
WATCH: President Joe Biden: “The only garbage I see floating out there is [Trump] supporters.” pic.twitter.com/9teSUOytqC
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) October 30, 2024
Biden’s comments immediately made waves on social media and prompted criticism from conservatives such as Senator Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) and Trump himself.
“I hope their campaign is about to apologize for what Joe Biden just said,” Rubio said at a Trump rally in Allentown, Pa. “We are not garbage. We are patriots who love America. And thank you for running, Mr. President.”
Later on, Trump said Biden’s comment was worse than Hillary Clinton’s infamous “deplorables” remark, made during the 2016 campaign. Clinton’s disparaging pronouncement had turned into a rallying cry for Trump’s political movement and remains an example of a costly campaign blunder.
“Please forgive him, for he not knoweth what he says,” Trump said, mocking Biden’s diminishing mental acuity. “But he really doesn’t know.”
Joining in on the criticism was Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro (D.), who addressed Biden’s quip during an appearance on CNN’s The Source.
“I’m giving you my fresh reaction to it. I would never insult the good people of Pennsylvania or any Americans even if they chose to support a candidate that I didn’t support,” Shapiro told host Kaitlan Collins.
Vice President Kamala Harris snubbed Shapiro when he was in the running to join her on the Democratic presidential ticket after she became the party’s nominee over the summer. Harris replaced Biden when he stepped aside from the presidential race after an open Democratic revolt over Biden’s mental fitness.
Verbal stumbles and slip-ups have been a staple of Biden’s presidency, even with the limited number of public appearances he has made following his decision to drop out of the presidential race. Biden recently said that “we’ve got to lock him up,” referring to Trump, whom his Justice Department continues to prosecute on charges that Democrats insist are not politically motivated.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates shared on X a transcript of Biden’s remarks with the word “supporter’s” formatted as a singular possessive. He was trying to clarify that Biden’s remarks were only directed at Hinchcliffe and not all Trump voters. Likewise, Biden issued a statement on X attempting to clean up the mess he had made.
“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,” Biden stated.
“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.”
A White House spokesperson told Axios that staffers spoke to Biden about what he intended to say in order to generate the transcript. The spokesperson declined to give Axios details about the conversation. Some observers have disputed the transcript’s formulation of what Biden said.
Conservatives strongly criticized Politico‘s coverage for initially reporting the story without the full quote while minimizing its importance. Politico appears to have updated its story after GOP vice-presidential nominee J. D. Vance and other prominent pro-Trump voices blasted its coverage and singled out reporter Jonathan Lemire.
Latinos are a crucial voting bloc especially in must-win Pennsylvania, where polls show the two candidates to be virtually tied.