(Julianna Frieman, Headline USA) President Joe Biden called Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s supporters “garbage” on Tuesday during a Zoom call with Voto Latino, a prominent U.S. voter outreach group.
Biden jumped at the chance to talk trash when he was asked about comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s joke referring to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage” at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday.
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden said.
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 hit news airwaves simultaneously as Vice President Kamala Harris delivered her closing pitch to voters at the Ellipse that evening in Washington, D.C.
This is not the first time Biden commandeered a news cycle from Harris; he previously held his first White House press briefing as president on Oct. 4—right as Harris was set to take the stage for a campaign event in battleground Michigan.
Axios reported on Sunday that the Harris campaign views Biden as a “political liability,” hence their soft blocking of the president’s increasingly assertive efforts to stump alongside his vice president before Election Day.
Biden added in his Zoom call remarks that Trump was “unconscionable” and “un-American” for the comedian’s comments about Puerto Rico.
However, Trump claimed he did not hear the comment, nor does he know Hinchcliffe.
This is what Kamala and her backers think of Trump supporters.
It's exactly this type of disgusting, unhinged rhetoric that has inspired two attempts on President Trump's life since July.
Vote accordingly. pic.twitter.com/jiz2I82AgL
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 30, 2024
Trump reacted to Biden’s attack on his supporters in real time—in front of thousands of said supporters at a rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., demanded an apology from the Harris campaign as he told the former president and the crowd what Biden had said.
Trump likened Biden’s comments to failed 2016 Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s infamous “basket of deplorables” attack, saying “garbage” is the worst of both insults.
Trump is informed live on stage that Joe Biden just called his voters "garbage" pic.twitter.com/Ub344d14MU
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) October 30, 2024
“He doesn’t know—you have to please, forgive him. Please forgive him! For he not knows what he said,” Trump told his supporters. “These people—it’s terrible.”
Biden’s X account attempted to clean up the president’s hateful rhetoric shortly after the viral clip spread.
The official White House transcript of Biden’s remarks incorrectly placed an apostrophe in the word “supporters,” making it “supporter’s” to give the false impression the demeaning Democrat did not stoop to the name-calling seen on video.
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…
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 30, 2024
The official White House transcript is just straight up lying about what Joe Biden said.
Even though it’s clearly on video pic.twitter.com/9X9rMXse3Y
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) October 30, 2024
Trump released a scathing social media post just past midnight early Wednesday slamming Harris’s “campaign of hate,” contrasting it with his own campaign of “positive solutions to save America.”
“You can’t lead America if you don’t love the American People,” Trump wrote in posts on X and Truth Social.
“Kamala Harris and Joe Biden have shown that they are both unfit to be President of the United States,” he said.
While I am running a campaign of positive solutions to save America, Kamala Harris is running a campaign of hate. She has spent all week comparing her political opponents to the most evil mass murderers in history. Now, on top of everything, Joe Biden calls our supporters…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 30, 2024
The Trump campaign and key Trump allies blasted Biden’s attack on the GOP nominee’s supporters in television appearances and social media posts.
“This is disgusting. Kamala Harris and her boss Joe Biden are attacking half of the country,” Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, wrote on X. “There’s no excuse for this. I hope Americans reject it.”
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.
https://t.co/oLXa0Misng https://t.co/Y67u7rZXVs— JD Vance (@JDVance) October 30, 2024
“It might look like Joe Biden’s usual cognitive deficits kicked in, but the reality is, we know his family is secretly probably rooting for Donald Trump, not Kamala Harris to win because they feel really vengeful about how they were treated,” former 2024 Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said on Hannity, telling the Fox News host he believes Biden’s remarks are an October Surprise.
Biden’s “garbage” comment is the “basket of deplorables” moment of this election. Either he was trying to actively undermine Kamala as revenge, or he just proved why he’s unfit to be President – which, incredibly, he still is. pic.twitter.com/i76pumyWeV
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) October 30, 2024
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris hate America and don't deserve four more years. Kamala must answer for this disgraceful attack on tens of millions of Americans: https://t.co/BLqvqi5dop
— Karoline Leavitt (@kleavittnh) October 30, 2024
“President Trump is backed by Latinos, Black voters, union workers, angel moms, law enforcement officers, border patrol agents, and Americans of all faiths—and Harris, Walz, and Biden have labeled these great Americans as fascists, Nazis, and now, garbage,” Trump campaign Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an email blast statement.
“There’s no way to spin it: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris don’t just hate President Trump, they despise the tens of millions of Americans who support him,” Leavitt said. “Kamala does not deserve four more years. President Trump will be a president for ALL Americans.”
Julianna Frieman is a freelance writer published by the Daily Caller, Headline USA, The Federalist, and The American Spectator. Follow her on Twitter at @JuliannaFrieman.
