Biden calls Trump supporters 'garbage,' White House changes transcript

Trump seizes on comments to claim Biden, Harris hate Americans

By Jon Brown, Christian Post Reporter
President Joe Biden delivers a nationally televised address from the Oval Office of the White House on July 15, 2024, in Washington, D.C.
President Joe Biden delivers a nationally televised address from the Oval Office of the White House on July 15, 2024, in Washington, D.C. | Erin Schaff-Pool/Getty Images

President Joe Biden called Trump supporters "garbage" Tuesday, prompting Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to distance themselves from his remarks as they attempt to push a message of unity less than a week before the presidential election.

Speaking during a Voto Latino campaign call, Biden criticized comments by insult comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who jokingly called Puerto Rico an island of garbage during his remarks at Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.

"Just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage. Well, let me tell you something, I don’t, I don’t know the Puerto Rican that I know, the Puerto Rico where I’m fr -- in my home state of Delaware. They’re good, decent, honorable people,” he said.

"The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been," he added.

The official White House transcript of Biden's remarks added a possessive apostrophe to "supporters" in an apparent attempt to suggest that he was speaking about Hinchcliffe in particular and not all Trump supporters. Biden's official Twitter account also attempted to clarify his comment.

"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," Biden's account tweeted amid widespread backlash on social media.

Harris and Walz tried to distance themselves from Biden's remarks on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews before heading to a campaign appearance, Harris said she did not support demonizing Americans based on their politics.

"I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for," she said. "As you heard in my speech last night and continuously throughout my career, I believe that the work that I do is about representing all the people, whether they support me or not."

"And as president of the United States, I will be a president for all Americans, whether you vote for me or not. That is my responsibility, and that's the kind of work that I've done my entire career, and I take it very seriously," she added.

Walz was also grilled on CBS News regarding divisive rhetoric from the Democratic Party going back years, including former President Barack Obama calling Republicans bitter clingers of their guns and religion and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denouncing some Trump supporters as "a basket of deplorables."

News of Biden's comments dropped as Harris was giving a speech at the Ellipse in front of the White House, during which she attempted to offer a closing argument of unity and "consensus" at the site where her opponent delivered a speech that his detractors have claimed led to the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Both former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, seized the opportunity to hit at the Harris campaign over the president's remarks.

"A mother mourning her son who died of a fentanyl overdose is not garbage. A truck driver who can't afford rising diesel prices is not garbage. A father who wants to afford groceries is not garbage. Kamala Harris and Joe Biden ought to be ashamed of themselves," Vance tweeted.

During a rally in North Carolina on Wednesday afternoon, Trump torched both Biden and Harris as people who hate the country they lead.

"This week, Kamala has been comparing her political opponents to the most evil mass murderers in history," he said in an apparent reference to how his rally at Madison Square Garden was compared to a Nazi rally that took place there in 1939. Harris also made public comments calling Trump "a fascist" and alleging he admired Adolf Hitler, according to The Associated Press.

"And now, speaking on a call for her campaign last night, Joe Biden finally said what he and Kamala really think of our supporters. He called them 'garbage.' And they mean it, even though without question my supporters are far higher quality than Crooked Joe or Lyin' Kamala," Trump said.

"My response to Joe and Kamala is very simple: you can't lead America if you don't love Americans, you just can't," he added.

Trump also issued a statement claiming he was running a campaign of "positive solutions to save America," but accused Harris of "running a campaign of hate."

Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to jon.brown@christianpost.com

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