US President Joe Biden faced criticism on Tuesday for seemingly calling Republican Donald Trump’s supporters “garbage” during a campaign video call with the nonprofit VotoLatino.
He responded to backlash from a New York rally where one of Trump’s speakers referred to Puerto Rico as:
“floating island of garbage,”
stating,
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.”
Biden condemned Trump’s
“demonization of Latinos”
as unacceptable and un-American.
In a statement, the White House said Biden was referring to Trump’s rhetoric, not to his supporters.
“The President referred to the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as ‘garbage,’”
said White House spokesperson Andrew Bates.
With Election Day just a week away, Vice President Kamala Harris is in a tightly contested race against Donald Trump for the White House.
Trump’s campaign quickly reacted to Biden’s remarks, labeling them as “terrible.”
During a rally in Pennsylvania, Trump criticized Biden’s comments, comparing them to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 remark about half of his supporters being “deplorables.”
“Garbage, I think is worse, right?” Trump quipped. Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance, also condemned Biden’s comments as “disgusting.”
