President Biden again joined the debate. work out He appeared to call former President Donald Trump’s supporters “scum” during a video call with Latino activists Tuesday evening. The Republican Party seized on this remark, and the White House offered a different explanation for President Biden’s remark.
The president was responding to a joke made by a comedian at a Trump rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. Tony HinchcliffeWhat Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico “Floating Garbage Island”
In a video obtained by CBS News, Biden, who was giving a video speech to the left-leaning group Voto Latino, sounded like he was criticizing Trump supporters as “scum.”
“The only trash I see are his supporters,” he seemed to say. “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable.”
However, the White House denied that the president said these things about Trump supporters and released the transcript along with a statement pointing out that the ‘supporters’ were in fact ‘supporters’. Mr. Biden was referring to Hinchcliffe and his jokes.
According to the White House transcript, former Vice President Biden said: “Not long ago, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” Well, let me tell you something: I am not — I am not a Puerto Rican — that I know — or that I live in — in my country. I don’t know if the people back home in Delaware are good, decent, honorable people, but his supporters’ demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and un-American, which goes against everything we have been and have been for. It will be.”
“The President called the hateful rhetoric coming from the Madison Square Garden rally ‘garbage,’” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement.
Republicans caught on video — Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who appeared with Trump at the Allentown rally; PennsylvaniaOn Tuesday night, they informed the crowd of Mr. Biden’s comments and demanded an apology from the president.
“In my opinion, trash is worse,” Trump responded, comparing the comment to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 comment in which she referred to half of Trump’s supporters as “baskets.” deplorable things“I feel terrible for saying that,” Trump added.
“Please forgive him because he doesn’t know what he said,” Trump jokingly said of Biden, while supporters chanted “No!”
That statement, and the hasty attempts by the president’s aides to clarify his words, suggest that partisan arguments over phrases could dominate the final days of the campaign, which have less than 200 hours left.
And it could be a terminal gift to Trump, who spent more than a year attacking the president’s mental and physical health but has seen his strategy upended by Harris’ surprise presidential bid. In recent weeks, Trump has seized on Harris’s own difficulty answering questions about how she would differ from Biden. She later said in an interview that “of course” her presidency would be different from her boss’s.
Trump also sent a fundraising appeal to his supporters. “KAMALA BOSS JOE BIDEN JUST CALLED ALL MY SUPPORTERS TRASH!…YOU ARE AMAZING!”
President Biden clarified his remarks in a post to X late Tuesday night.
Former Vice President Biden said, “This morning, at a rally at Madison Square Garden, I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by a Trump supporter as trash,” adding, “The only word that can describe it is this. His demonization of Latinos is trash.” “It’s unconscionable,” he wrote. . “That’s all I’m saying. The comments at the rally do not reflect who we are as a nation.”
The uproar occurred the night Vice President Kamala Harris gave her closing arguments for the campaign. She portrayed Trump as a man who would deepen America’s divisions if elected and promised to work with Democrats, Republicans and independents alike to improve the lives of Americans.
Several Harris campaign aides did not respond to requests for comment late Tuesday.
“I would never insult the good people of Pennsylvania or the American people if they decide to support a candidate I do not support,” Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s governor and Harris’ surrogate, told CNN.
Hinchcliffe’s comments at the Trump rally, which also included offensive jokes about blacks and Latinos, sparked a quick backlash, with several celebrities coming out in defense of Puerto Ricans and Latinos in the U.S. and expressing support for Harris’ plan for the island. Yes. . Among those who weighed in were Jennifer Lopez, Ariana DeBose and Ricky Martin. Martin, who has more than 18 million followers, posted on Instagram: “Puerto Rico, this is what they think of us. Vote for Kamala Harris.”
President Trump also said Tuesday that he didn’t know who Hinchcliffe was and didn’t know the joke he told. “It’s no one’s fault, but someone said something bad,” he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “I don’t know if it’s a big deal or not, but I don’t want anyone making offensive jokes or dumb jokes,” Trump said, adding, “Maybe that person shouldn’t have been there.” His campaign said the joke was not reviewed or pre-approved by the campaign.
Ed O’Keeffe
