Did President Biden just call former President Trump’s supporters (nearly half of the American electorate) “trash”?
That sounds like what he said in an interview on Tuesday, something Republicans have been criticizing him for. But Biden said that was not what he meant and that he was simply condemning “hate speech.” His team refused to read his words – although they admitted he had read them unintentionally.
Do Biden’s comments matter to voters in races where he’s not running? Making similar and worse comments.
Republicans say it should be done; Democrats say it’s ridiculous.
On Tuesday, Biden took aim at a particularly bad joke in which Trump and others made a series of racist and inflammatory remarks during an interview at Trump’s recent rally at Madison Square Garden, in which comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”
“They are good, decent, honorable people,” Biden said of Puerto Ricans. “The only trash I see is from his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unjustified and un-American. It’s the complete opposite of everything we do.
At least, that’s what Biden sounds like — and many observers understand him to be saying that.
Republicans immediately viewed the remarks as a rebuke of nearly half the country from the sitting president, a gaffe similar to Hillary Clinton’s during the 2016 campaign, when she called many of Trump’s supporters ” A miserable bunch of people.”
In their view, it’s another example of Democrats showing disdain for ordinary Americans, ignoring Vice President Kamala Harris’s message of unity and Trump’s usual divisive rhetoric to bring the country together.
Biden and the White House immediately took damage control measures and tried to clarify his remarks.
“Earlier today, I called the hate speech Trump supporters made about Puerto Rico at the Madison Square Garden rally trash — the only adjective I can think of,” Biden wrote. The demonization of Latinos is unjustified and that’s what I’m saying. The rhetoric at that rally is not reflective of who we are as a country.
The Biden team also provided a different transcript indicating the quote was “of his supporters,” rather than “of his supporters,” such as, “The only trash I see floating around there is from his supporters” — — which they saw as a direct rebuke of one supporter: Hinchcliffe.
Harris also sought to quell criticism. She noted that Biden has clarified his remarks but also distanced himself from them.
“Look, I think, first of all, he clarified his comments, but let me be clear: I strongly disagree with any criticism of anyone based on what people voted for,” she said.
For months, Harris has tried to maintain a delicate relationship with Biden, touting his administration’s accomplishments while also saying she would be her own type of leader. She has sought to cast herself as the face of a new generation of leadership — a nod to the fact that she is 60, while Biden is 81 and Trump is 78.
She has also been trying to lure Republicans to her camp, especially in battleground states where she and Trump are running tight races and need every vote they can get.
Biden, who has always stuttered, has obviously lost another step in his verbal power in recent years. He dropped out of the presidential race after appearing so confused in a July debate with Trump that many in the country began questioning his mental acuity and leadership abilities. His stuttering remarks to Trump supporters were just the latest example of words getting the best of him — though he quickly issued a clarification.
Harris’ supporters have criticized the media for disproportionate coverage of the conflict, especially given Trump’s frequent use of similar derogatory language. He recently called the entire United States a “garbage dump” and said “we are like the garbage can of the world.”