Former US President Donald Trump climbed up a campaign-themed garbage truck in Wisconsin on Wednesday, seizing on President Joe Biden’s remarks in which he appeared to label Trump supporters as “garbage,” as reported by The Hill.
“How do you like my garbage truck? This truck is in honour of Kamala and Joe Biden,” Trump said from the passenger seat, which featured a Trump campaign sticker and flag. His campaign staff widely circulated photos of the event as photographers captured the moment, The Hill reported.
The Trump campaign is working to leverage the outrage among his supporters over Biden’s comment, with Vice President and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris seeking to distance herself from it.
Biden faced backlash after he seemingly compared Trump supporters to ‘garbage’ while discussing a racially charged joke made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at a Trump rally, which referred to Puerto Rico as an “island of garbage,” The Hill reported.
Following his remark, Biden inadvertently thrust him back into the political spotlight just a week before the US presidential elections.
Biden criticised the comedian’s description of Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage,” asserting that the people of Puerto Rico are “good, decent, and honourable.” However, his defence sparked a political uproar, detracting from Vice President Kamala Harris’s key closing speech on Tuesday evening, CNN reported.
“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, honourable people,” Biden said during his virtual remarks in a get-out-the-vote call meant to help Harris.”
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden said, adding, “His demonisation of Latinos is unconscionable and it’s un-American.”
The White House later clarified that Biden’s comments were misinterpreted, emphasising that he was referring to the “garbage” rhetoric from the rally, not the supporters themselves. They provided a fuller transcript, which included punctuation to indicate he was commenting on Hinchcliffe’s remarks, as reported by The Hill.
Biden himself took to social media to explain that his use of “garbage” referred to the comments made about Puerto Rico, not to Trump’s supporters, as reported by CNN.
“Earlier today, I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporters at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage–which is the only word I can think of to describe it. His demonisation 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,” Biden wrote on X.
Biden’s remarks drew immediate parallels to Hillary Clinton’s infamous “basket of deplorables” comment in 2016, which became a rallying cry for Trump and his supporters. In the aftermath, Harris felt compelled to address the controversy on Wednesday, emphasising her belief in representing all voters, regardless of their political affiliations, as reported by CNN.
“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,” the Democratic nominee said.
“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,” Harris added.
“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,” she further said.
