While Vice President Kamala Harris was giving her closing campaign speech in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, President Joe Biden called former President Donald Trump’s supporters “garbage.”
Following Biden’s comments, CNN anchor Kaitlin Collins asked Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, who was passed over for Harris’ VP candidate, for his response to Biden’s remarks.
“I had not heard that until now, Kaitlin, so I’m kind of giving you my fresh reaction to it,” Shapiro said after Collins played the clip. “I would never insult the good people of Pennsylvania or any Americans even if they chose to support a candidate that I didn’t support.”
Collins then asked if Biden needed to clarify his comment, to which Shapiro replied: “Well, I think President Biden will decide what he wants to say. It’s certainly not words that I would choose, and I think it’s important that we remain focused on the contrast between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump and not attacking supporters of either candidate.”
Biden did attempt to clarify his comments, claiming he was only referring to an insult comedian who made a joke at a Trump rally in New York.
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“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 said on X. “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable.”
“That’s all I meant to say,” he continued. “The comments at that rally don’t reflect who we are as a nation.”
Biden’s original statement, however, clearly referred to Trump supporters in the plural. Biden made his comments during a campaign call Tuesday night, saying, “Donald Trump has no character” and “He doesn’t give a damn about the Latino community.”
“Just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage,” Biden continued, referring to a joke made by a comedian at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally over the weekend.
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden said. “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”
After Biden made the remarks, leftist media outlets immediately began to insist that Biden did not say what everyone heard him say. The White House even released a transcript that added an apostrophe to Biden’s comments in an attempt to change the meaning of Biden’s statement.
“And just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage,’” Biden said, according to the official White House transcript. “Well, let me tell you something. I don’t — I — I don’t know the Puerto Rican that — that I know — or a Puerto Rico, where I’m fr— in my home state of Delaware, they’re good, decent, honorable people. The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter’s — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”
Yet, watching the video, viewers can clearly see that Biden began a new thought after saying “supporters,” despite what the transcript claims.
Media outlets also attempted to downplay the significance of Biden’s remarks, with some saying they didn’t matter because Biden isn’t running for president. This comes after the media has spent three days complaining about a comedian’s remarks at a Trump rally.
