Donald Trump U-Turns on Biden Calling Supporters ‘Garbage’

Donald Trump has U-turned on his initial stance that his followers forgive Joe Biden for calling them “garbage.”

Biden was responding to comedian Tony Hinchliffe’s comments at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally in which he called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” Addressing the comments, Biden said, “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.”

A clip of his remark, which was made while on a VotoLatino call, went viral and drew criticism from Trump voters. Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung was among those comparing it to Hillary Clinton‘s 2016 comment that “you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables.”

In a previous comment to Newsweek, White House spokesman Andrew Bates said: “The president was referring to the “hateful rhetoric coming out of the Madison Square Garden rally” and not supporters of Trump.”

At a rally on Tuesday night, Trump was told in real-time about Biden’s comments.

“You have, remember Hillary, she said deplorable, and then she said irredeemable, right?” Trump said. “But she said deplorable, and that didn’t work out. ‘Garbage,’ I think, is worse, right? But he doesn’t know, you have to please forgive him. Please forgive him, for he not knoweth what he said.”

However, close to midnight on Tuesday, Trump appeared to contradict this sentiment with a post on X, formerly Twitter, and Truth Social.

He wrote, “You can’t lead America if you don’t love the American People. Kamala Harris and Joe Biden have shown they are both unfit to be President of the United States.”

The White House and the Harris campaign have been emailed for comment outside of working hours.

Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, has also been active on social media against Biden’s comments. In one post he said: “A mother mourning her son who died of a fentanyl overdose is not garbage. A truck driver who can’t afford rising diesel prices is not garbage. A father who wants to afford groceries is not garbage.

“Kamala Harris and Joe Biden ought to be ashamed of themselves.”

In another he said: “This is 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.”

Joe Biden also posted a follow-up statement on X, saying: “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. His demonization 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.”

Hinchliffe’s comments received backlash from Puerto Rican celebrities including Bad Bunny, J-Lo, and Ricky Martin who all endorsed Harris on their Instagram accounts after Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally.

Puerto Ricans in the key swing state of Pennsylvania are reportedly outraged at the comments, with the non-partisan Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Puerto Rican Agenda urging their members to reject anti-Puerto Rican sentiment at the ballot box.

Despite the criticism from detractors, Hinchliffe has seen a rise in followers across his social media and subscribers to his YouTube account after his remarks at Trump’s rally in New York last weekend.

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