Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., ripped a CNN host Wednesday morning for suggesting that President Biden’s recent “garbage” comment was a blunder equal to one comedian’s off-color Puerto Rico joke at former President Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally.
Boyle, a member of the House Budget Committee, slammed anchor Kasie Hunt’s point as a “false equivalency” and insisted that the president was simply referring to roast comic Tony Hinchcliffe, who made the joke on Sunday night that Puerto Rico was a “floating Island of garbage.”
“Well, let’s not do the false equivalency thing. I actually read the transcript,” he said, suggesting that there was more context revealing that Biden wasn’t referring to Trump voters generally.
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Biden made the “garbage” remarks during a virtual Harris campaign call with Voto Latino on Tuesday. In an attempt to connect with Latino voters who may have been offended by Hinchcliffe’s joke, Biden hit back at Trump’s base in retaliation for the joke.
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden said. “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and it is un-American,” he declared on camera. A clip of his statement went viral and was condemned by the Trump campaign and other prominent conservatives.
Hunt wondered if it was a serious mistake. She began her clash with Boyle, stating, “Congressman, of course, the other person who used the term garbage in a recent interview is President Biden, who had made a comment saying that Trump supporters were garbage.”
Boyle cut in, declaring, “That’s not true.”
The anchor continued, noting how the White House came out and clarified that Biden had said, “Trump supporter’s” rather than “Trump supporters.” “Obviously, the campaign has already seized on it. Do you think what President Biden said is helpful?”
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Boyle replied by accusing Hunt of making a “false equivalency” and disputed conservatives’ view of what Biden said.
“I’m not trying to do false equivalency, sir,” the anchor shot back. As he tried to interject and then speak over her, Hunt added, “I’m just asking six days out from a campaign if this is helpful.”
Boyle continued, “He referred to the speaker, meaning the person who was the comedian who said this.”
The lawmaker then went on to call Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally a “festival of hate.”
“Frankly, it wasn’t just the one mean-spirited, vicious joke of a comedian that he decided to platform. There were many other speakers as well at Madison Square Garden at his final closing argument. Compare that to Kamala Harris, who in her closing argument last night, said to her political opponents, she’s not going to threaten to jail them as Donald Trump has, she’s going to give them a seat at the table.”
The lawmaker added, “That’s probably why so many Republicans, especially in the suburbs of Philadelphia, are actually supporting Kamala Harris in this campaign.”
