Anna Moneymaker and Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
- Donald Trump is seizing on recent comments from Joe Biden to attack Kamala Harris.
- Biden on Tuesday appeared to call Trump supporters “garbage.” He quickly clarified his remark.
- The gaffe takes some of the spotlight off Trump, who’s been criticized for the tone of his MSG rally.
After Vice President Kamala Harris’ rise to the top of the Democratic ticket, former President Donald Trump has remained fixed on his former opponent, President Joe Biden.
But this week, Trump was handed a gift in the form of a new gaffe from Biden. It’s allowed the former president to once again attack Biden while at the same time motivating his supporters to turn out against Harris — just days before Election Day.
While speaking with a Latino voting group on a virtual call on Tuesday, Biden criticized remarks made by the comedian Tony Hinchcliffe during Trump’s Sunday rally at Madison Square Garden.
“I don’t know if you guys know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now,” Hinchcliffe said at the MSG rally. “I think it’s called Puerto Rico.”
The remark sparked widespread backlash from Democrats and members of the Puerto Rican community, including the musicians Bad Bunny and Jennifer Lopez.
On Tuesday night, Biden appeared to say that it was Trump supporters who are “garbage.”
“They’re good, decent, honorable people,” Biden said of Puerto Ricans in the call. “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.”
The White House quickly tried to clarify Biden’s remark.
Senior Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates said on X that Biden “referred to the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as ‘garbage.'” He then retweeted a post where a Yahoo reporter wrote that it seems “pretty clear Biden was talking about the comic.”
The Trump campaign had already started to use the gaffe as a rallying cry for his supporters.
On Tuesday night, the GOP presidential candidate attacked Biden in a post on Truth Social. Instead of focusing solely on his former opponent, as he has often done, Trump linked Biden’s comment back to his current opponent, Harris.
“While I am running a campaign of positive solutions to save America, Kamala Harris is running a campaign of hate,” Trump wrote in his post. “Now, on top of everything, Joe Biden calls our supporters ‘garbage.’ You can’t lead America if you don’t love the American People. Kamala Harris and Joe Biden have shown they are both unfit to be President of the United States.”
Trump also commented on Biden’s remark at his rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday night. While on stage at the event, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida read what Biden said. “Wow. That’s terrible,” Trump said. “That’s what it says.”
Trump then compared Biden’s comment to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” comment in 2016.
“Garbage, I think, is worse, right?” Trump said, according to NBC News. “But he doesn’t know. You have to please forgive him. Please forgive him, for he not knoweth what he said.”
Later Tuesday night, the Trump campaign sent out a fundraising email largely focused on Biden’s gaffe.
“Moments ago, Kamala’s boss crooked Joe Biden just called ALL my supporters GARBAGE – HE WAS TALKING TO YOU!” the email stated.”FIRST Hillary called you a DEPLORABLE! THEN they called you a FASCIST! And moments ago Kamala’s boss Biden called you GARBAGE!“
Harris on Wednesday addressed Biden’s remark, one day after she gave her closing argument speech at the Ellipse in Washington, DC.
“First of all, he clarified his comments, but let me be clear: I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for,” Harris told reporters. “I believe the work that I do is about representing all the people whether they support me or not.”
Business Insider has reached out to the Trump and Harris campaigns for comment.
