ALLENTOWN, Pennsylvania — President Joe Biden gave former President Donald Trump a break from controversy on Tuesday when he called his supporters “garbage,” a misstep that threatens to consume Vice President Kamala Harris’s candidacy in the final days of the race.
Since Sunday, Trump has faced scrutiny over a comic who called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” at his Madison Square Garden rally.
Trump planned to use an event in Allentown, Pennsylvania, as a form of damage control as he featured Puerto Rican speakers who heaped praise on the island territory.
But the event was instantly overshadowed when Biden decided to weigh in on the comic’s remarks. In a call organized by a Latino advocacy group, he insulted Trump supporters as he defended Puerto Ricans as “good, decent, honorable” people.
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden said on Tuesday. “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”
The White House was quick to insist that Biden was referring to the comedian, not Trump supporters as a whole. Biden reiterated that sentiment in a statement on X shortly thereafter. But Republicans immediately equated the comment to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” remark from 2016.
“Just moments ago, Joe Biden stated that our supporters are garbage,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said onstage at Trump’s rally in Allentown. “I hope their campaign is about to apologize for what Joe Biden just said. We are not garbage. We are patriots who love America.”
The change of conversation could not have come at a better moment for Trump. His campaign had distanced itself from comic Tony Hinchcliffe, but Trump continued to be peppered with questions over whether he personally disavowed the comments.
Trump simply told reporters on Tuesday that he did not know the comedian and had not arranged the speaking slot.
The fact that Hinchcliffe had insulted Puerto Ricans, in particular, posed a political liability to Trump. The Puerto Rican community makes up 6% of eligible voters in Pennsylvania, a swing state he must win to deny Harris the presidency.
Significant populations reside in battlegrounds Georgia and Wisconsin as well.
Allentown, with a Puerto Rican population of about 34,000, gave Trump a timely location to smooth over the controversy. His campaign invited four Latino speakers to the rally, each of whom urged the audience to vote for Trump.
“Donald Trump is not only the right choice for the Puerto Rican people, he is the right choice for America,” said Tim Ramos, a former candidate for Allentown mayor.
Trump, for his part, promised to protect the Catholic faith as president while predicting record support from Latinos on Election Day.
“Nobody loves our Latino community, our Puerto Rican community, more than me,” Trump said.
As for Biden, Trump took a jab at his mental acuity as he learned about the “garbage” supporters comment from Rubio onstage.
“Remember Hillary? She said ‘deplorable,’ and then she said ‘irredeemable,’ right? But she said deplorable. That didn’t work out,” Trump said. “Garbage I think is worse, right?”
“But he doesn’t know. You have to please forgive him. Please forgive him,” Trump added, “for he not knoweth what he said.”
The Trump campaign sharpened its attack in a statement released after the rally ended, claiming that “Joe Biden and Kamala Harris don’t just hate President Trump, they despise the tens of millions of Americans who support him.”
Biden’s decision to comment on the controversy marks his latest misstep in a presidential race that is expected to be won on the margins. To date, Harris had largely avoided campaigning with him as she looks to separate herself from his agenda, while his verbal blunders were one cause for concern as Democrats pressured him to leave the presidential race over the summer.
On Tuesday, Harris delivered a speech from the Ellipse, where Trump urged supporters to march toward the Capitol on Jan. 6. But her remarks, billed as her “closing argument” in the presidential race, were quickly replaced with headlines on Biden’s comments.
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With the political moment shifting, Republicans moved to press vulnerable Democrats up and down the ballot whether they agree with Biden’s comment, while at least one top surrogate for Harris distanced himself from the remark.
“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,” Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) said of the comment on CNN.
