(The Daily Signal) — President Joe Biden made a crass reference to supporters of former President Donald Trump, sparking widespread condemnation from Americans.
The remarks, originally reported on X by NBC News’ Gabe Gutierrez, were intended to rally Latino voters Tuesday. They followed comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s off-color joke about Puerto Rico at Trump’s event Sunday at Madison Square Garden.
“Donald Trump has no character. He doesn’t give a damn about the Latino community,” Biden said on the video. “Just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage.’ Well, let me tell you something. … The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.”
Here’s the video: pic.twitter.com/7hNp3su8k2
— Gabe Gutierrez (@gabegutierrez) October 30, 2024
The remarks drew a sharp and swift rebuke—and even resulted in a rare clarification from Biden himself.
“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.”
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…
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 30, 2024
Biden’s repudiation of Trump supporters overshadowed Vice President Kamala Harris’ high-profile speech to thousands of supporters in Washington, D.C. Harris spoke at the Ellipse, just south of the White House, where Trump delivered his infamous remarks on Jan. 6, 2021.
“[Trump] is the person who stood at this very spot nearly four years ago and sent an armed mob to the United States Capitol to overturn the will of the people in a free and fair election, an election that he knew he lost,” Harris told her supporters.
Biden upstages Kamala Harris again, this time unveiling her closing argument for her: pic.twitter.com/hqyDzJFem2
— Tim Murtaugh (@TimMurtaugh) October 30, 2024
More than 74 million Americans voted for Trump in 2020, the highest total ever for an incumbent president. With the 2024 presidential race tied nationally and in the seven swing states, Trump is aiming to pull off a feat next week once thought unimaginable.
His campaign was quick to condemn Biden’s comments Tuesday night.
“There’s no way to spin it: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris don’t just hate President Trump, they despise the tens of millions of Americans who support him,” Karoline Leavitt, national press secretary for the Trump campaign, said in a statement.
Trump supporters—ranging from elected lawmakers to social media influencers—turned to X to lambaste Biden for insulting millions of Americans.
Who else is ready to reject Biden’s disgusting attack on roughly half of all Americans? pic.twitter.com/3P8uhiU6hc
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) October 30, 2024
Biden’s comments drew comparisons to Trump’s 2016 opponent, Hillary Clinton, who used a derogatory insult to insult his supporters less than two months before the election.
“You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables,” Clinton said at an LGBT fundraising event in 2016. “They’re racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic—you name it. And unfortunately, there are people like that. And he has lifted them up.”
Obama called us clingers.
Hillary called us deplorables.
Kamala calls us fascists.
And Biden just called us garbage.They don’t respect us & don’t want unity.
But we do.
We want to Make America Great Again.
Our coalition is for ALL AMERICANS.
And in 7 days, we will UNITE… pic.twitter.com/WYZePbYOyK— Byron Donalds (@ByronDonalds) October 30, 2024
Years earlier, while campaigning for president, Barack Obama uttered his own insult of conservatives.
“They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations,” Obama said in 2008.
More recently, Harris called Trump a “fascist.”
Trump survived two assassination attempts this year, the first by mere inches. He blamed Democrats’ dire warnings about him as a threat to democracy.
“Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country and they are the ones that are destroying the country—both from the inside and out,” Trump said at the time.
Below are some of the many reactions to Biden’s “garbage” remark Tuesday.
This is disgusting. Kamala Harris and her boss Joe Biden are attacking half of the country.
There's no excuse for this. I hope Americans reject it.
https://t.co/oLXa0Misng https://t.co/Y67u7rZXVs— JD Vance (@JDVance) October 30, 2024
Team Kamala thinks all Trump supporters are "garbage."
Alexis Nungaray lost her daughter at the hands of an illegal alien that Kamala Harris allowed into our country. She isn't garbage, she's an amazing American whose daughter would be alive today if it wasn't for Kamala Harris. https://t.co/JEeFER0a7C
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) October 30, 2024
Biden just called half of America ‘garbage’ https://t.co/N3VtLLdzwK
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 30, 2024
Deplorables, Nazis, Garbage. Can we talk about issues rather than dividing Americans? https://t.co/KlTOQ4eP7f
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) October 30, 2024
🚨Entirely UNACCEPTABLE that the President of the United States has called AT LEAST half of the American people, including, Hispanics, Whites, Blacks, & Asians, garbage.
Joe Biden’s contempt for the American people is despicable & he’s UNFIT for office!pic.twitter.com/DGGVgPgy2s
— Rep. Carlos A. Gimenez (@RepCarlos) October 30, 2024
I guess Joe Biden and Kamala Harris opened our border to flood our country with crime and fentanyl because they think the American people are "garbage." At least we finally have an answer. https://t.co/eDqz8AyTKD
— Rep. Mary Miller (@RepMaryMiller) October 30, 2024
Joe Biden calls us garbage.
Kamala Harris calls us fascists.
Hillary Clinton called us deplorables.
The “tolerant Left” doesn’t seem so tolerant.
pic.twitter.com/axj6rSCLid— Rep. Tom Tiffany (@RepTiffany) October 30, 2024
Joe Biden just called tens of millions of Americans “garbage.”
All because they support President Donald Trump.
This is despicable. https://t.co/0gANI0lcHF
— Congressman Troy E. Nehls (@RepTroyNehls) October 30, 2024
Biden just called anyone who supports Trump “garbage”
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) October 30, 2024
Biden: "The only garbage I see floating out there is [Trump] supporters."
Add this to the “basket of deplorables” and “nazi” slurs against Americans.
Why to so many Democrat leaders hate so many of our fellow Americans?pic.twitter.com/NwEeHiLAT7
— Eric Schmitt (@Eric_Schmitt) October 30, 2024
Biden: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.” He just called half the country garbage. Despicable.
— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) October 30, 2024
If you keep declaring over and over and over again that Trump is Hitler and his rallies are Nazi rallies, it is an inevitability that you will end up calling his voters garbage. This isn't a bug. It's a feature. https://t.co/sLuead1f4i
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) October 30, 2024
This article was originally published by The Daily Signal.
Rob Bluey
Rob Bluey is executive editor of The Daily Signal, the multimedia news organization of The Heritage Foundation.
