ELECTION FEVER: How Joe Biden May Have Gifted Trump Huge Election Win With 'Garbage Supporters' Gaffe
Joe Biden may have helped out his former rival Donald Trump.
Oct. 30 2024, Published 1:25 p.m. ET
President Joe Biden could have just handed Donald Trump a major boost in this year's election after his word blunder on Tuesday.
Biden's attempt to defend Puerto Ricans after Trump's NYC rally on Sunday has left VP Kamala Harris scrambling to clean up the chaos, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Biden gave Ukraine's president permission to use US-supplied missiles on Russia.
Puerto Rico — a self-governing American territory — was referred to as a "floating island of garbage" by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at Trump’s Madison Square Garden event.
While delivering virtual remarks on a call with Latino voters in support of Harris, his clumsy mention of Hinchcliffe's words ended up overshadowing Harris' closing argument and could even eclipse the original remarks themselves.
Harris addressed Biden's remarks on Wednesday morning, while Trump said his words were 'worse' than some made by Hilary Clinton in 2016.
Biden stumbled: "And just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico 'a floating island of garbage.' Well, let me tell you something … I don’t know the Puerto Rican that I know… or Puerto Rico where I’m – in my home state of Delaware – they’re good, decent, honorable people."
He added: "The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters."
After a quick pause, he continued: "His, his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and it’s un-American."
The White House quickly tried to clean up the mess.
Spokesman Andrew Bates said Biden was alluding to the "hateful rhetoric" at Trump's MSG rally — not the Republican candidate's backers.
Bates also claimed Biden had really said: "The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter's — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American."
Biden shared a statement on social media shortly after to address his comments — though the damage had already been done.
He wrote 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."
"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."
Harris, the Democratic candidate for the 2024 U.S. presidential election, also spoke about the controversy on Wednesday morning before quickly switching the subject back to her campaign message.
White on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews, Harris said: "Listen, I think, 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.
"You heard my speech last night and continuously throughout my career. I believe that the work that I do is about representing all the people whether they support me or not."
She continued: "I am sincere in what I mean: when elected president of the United States, I will represent all Americans, including those who don't vote for me, and address their needs and their desires."
Joe Biden has desperately tried to backtrack on comments in which he appeared to call Trump supporters 'garbage'.
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Trump has also reacted to Biden's mishap and has attempted to use his "garbage supporters" phrase against the Democratic party — possibly giving the MAGA leader a leg-up in next week's election.
He said: "Wow. That’s terrible. That's what it says. That's what it says. So, you have, remember Hillary, she said 'deplorable' and then she said 'irredeemable,' right? But she said deplorable, that didn’t work out.
"'Garbage' I think is worse, right?"
The current president said he only meant to comment on Trump's 'demonization of Latinos' being 'unconscionable'.
Trump was referring to the 2016 election when then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton said half of Trump’s supporters should be "put into the basket of deplorables" because of their "racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic" views.
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