President Joe Biden seemingly called Donald Trump’s supporters “garbage” during a Zoom event Tuesday with a Latino voter outreach group—though he later said his comments were simply meant to reference the hateful rhetoric used during Trump’s weekend rally at Madison Square Garden.
Biden began his remarks, which took place during a call with the group Voto Latino, by addressing comedian Tony Hinchcliffe calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage”—comments that sparked a days-long media frenzy.
In the days since, even Trump and his campaign have attempted to distance themselves from the incident.
“And just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage,’” Biden said Tuesday. “Well, let me tell you something. In my home state of Delaware, [Puerto Ricans] are good, decent, honorable people.”
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters—his—his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American,” Biden said. “It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”
Biden’s comment took off on right-wing social media accounts that omitted both his reference to Hinchcliffe and his following reference to Trump‘s rhetoric. Accusations that the president called Trump’s supporters “garbage” prompted the White House to quickly issue a statement.
“The President referred to the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as garbage,” spokesman Andrew Bates said.
Biden himself reiterated that point on X.
“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,“ Biden wrote. ”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.”
In the White House readout of Biden‘s comments, the president is quoted saying “supporter’s”—a singular possessive referencing Hinchcliffe.
According to The Washington Post, an earlier transcript purportedly showed him saying “supporters’”—a plural possessive. The edit was made after White House staff talked with Biden, who told them he meant to say that Hinchcliffe’s language “was garbage.”
Nevertheless, Trump seized on Biden’s comment during a rally Tuesday in Pennsylvania.
“So, you have to remember Hillary [Clinton]—she said ‘deplorable’ and then she said ‘irredeemable.’ ‘Garbage’ I think is worse,” Trump said, during the same speech in which he doubled down on calling the U.S. a “garbage can.”
His running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, also latched onto the apparent gaffe.
“This is disgusting. Kamala Harris and her boss Joe Biden are attacking half of the country,” he wrote on X. “There’s no excuse for this. I hope Americans reject it.”
