Joe Biden calls Trump supporters ‘garbage’

President takes swipe at Republicans after their guest comedian Tony Hinchcliffe described Puerto Rico as a ‘floating island of garbage’

Joe Biden called Donald Trump supporters “garbage” as he waded into a row over the Republican nominee’s Madison Square Garden rally. 
The president took a swipe at Trump’s Sunday night campaign stop in which warm-up act Tony Hinchcliffe described Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.”
Responding to the comments, Mr Biden told Hispanic advocacy group Vote Latino: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonisation of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”
The White House attempted to walk back the remarks, insisting the president was referring to the rhetoric at the rally as “garbage”. 
Republicans immediately seized on Mr Biden’s comments with Florida Senator Marco Rubio informing a Trump rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania on Tuesday night what the president had said. 
“Moments ago Joe Biden stated that our supporters, our patriots, are garbage,” Mr Rubio said. “He’s talking about everyday Americans who love their country.”
Trump compared the remarks to those of Hillary Clinton in 2016, when she said that his supporters belong in a “basket of deplorables”.
“Remember Hillary, she said ‘deplorable’ and then she said ‘irredeemable’,” Trump told his supporters. “Garbage I think is worse right.”
Trump went on to take a swipe at Mr Biden over his mental faculties, saying: “Please forgive him for he not knoweth what he said.”
Mr Biden’s gaffe risked overshadowing Ms Harris’s speech at the Ellipse in Washington DC which was billed as her closing argument on the campaign trail.
The president’s words may also neuter Democratic criticism of Trump, who was roundly condemned after Mr Hinchiffe and a series of other speakers gave speeches deemed racist and offensive at his New York rally.
Trump’s criticism of Biden was echoed by other leading Republicans, with his running mate JD Vance labelling Mr Biden’s comments “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,” he said.
Republican Senator Tom Cotton called on Kamala Harris to condemn the president’s “despicable statement”.
“Kamala Harris was deeply outraged by a comedian’s joke. If she has any decency or integrity, she will condemn her partner Joe Biden’s despicable statement calling half the country garbage,” he said.
Vivek Ramaswamy, a one-time Republican presidential candidate, said Mr Biden’s slur will backfire on Ms Harris. “You may think it’s his cognitive impairment, but it smells more like an ingenious way to inflict long-overdue revenge on Kamala. Not a bad October surprise,” he said.
Donald Trump Jr also slammed the comments as “disgusting” and called on the Harris campaign to apologise for referring to Trump’s event as a Nazi rally.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates sought to limit the damage caused by the President’s remarks, claiming he “referred to the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as ‘garbage’.”
The president himself has since issued a clarification on X, formerly Twitter, also claiming he was referring to the rhetoric of Trump’s supporters at the rally, not his supporters in general.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
The President’s remarks were at odds with Ms Harris’s attempts to lure Republican voters who disagree with Trump’s bombastic rhetoric. 
With a week to go until election day, Ms Harris spoke at the Ellipse  next to the White House on Tuesday night  where she vowed to be a president who would unite the country.