Republicans have rejected Joe Biden and the White House’s denials that the president called Donald Trump‘s supporters “garbage.”
Biden said he was referencing comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s joke attacking Puerto Rico at a Trump rally in New York when he made the remarks on a Zoom call with the Voto Latino advocacy group.
The White House also released a transcript of the Zoom call to back up the claim that Biden was referring to Hinchcliffe’s remarks as “garbage” and not Trump supporters. “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter’s—his—his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American,” the transcript reads. Newsweek has contacted The White House and Trump’s campaign team for comment via email.
The backlash of the comments are reminiscent of Hillary Clinton describing Trump supporters as “a basket of deplorables” in 2016, and which were blamed for damaging the Democratic candidate’s campaign. Hinchcliffe’s joke about Puerto Rico being a “floating island of garbage” so close to the election is said to be damaging Trump’s election hopes in key swing states such as Pennsylvania.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates told Newsweek that the president was referring to the “hateful rhetoric coming out of the Madison Square Garden rally” and not supporters of Trump.
A number of Republican figures are accusing the White House transcript of misrepresenting what Biden said. Trump supporters said a video of the Voto Latino call shows the president was actually referring to them in the plural.
Joe Biden delivers remarks on his administration’s Investing in America agenda at the Port of Baltimore on October 29, 2024 in Baltimore, Maryland. The U.S. president has denied calling Trump supporters “garbage.”
Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images
Greg Price, the communications director at the State Freedom Caucus Network, posted on X, formerly Twitter: “The official White House transcript is just straight up lying about what Joe Biden said. Even though it’s clearly on video.”
Kylie Jane Kremer, executive director of Women for America First, who helped organize the January 6 protests in Washington D.C. in 2021, posted: “The official White House transcript needs to be immediately corrected.
“Notice the use of the apostrophe in the transcript Joe Biden’s words were clear that he was stating Trump’s supporters were the garbage. Not Biden discussing Trump’s supporter’s garbage floating around,” Kremer added.
David Giglio, who unsuccessfully ran for California’s 20th Congressional District, wrote: “The Regime is now lying to the American people and altering official White House transcripts despite video evidence.”
Liam Donovan, a Republican strategist, added: “The problem with the transcript bit beyond people having ears is that the unintelligible interpolation of multiple distinct thoughts isn’t a very good defense.”
Jonathan Lemire, host of MSNBC‘s morning news show Way Too Early, said the transcript of Biden’s remarks suggest the president’s comments were being “taken out of context.”
In a statement, Biden said: “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,” the president said.
Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s national press secretary, added: “President Trump is backed by Latinos, Black voters, union workers, angel moms, law enforcement officers, border patrol agents, and Americans of all faiths—and Harris, Walz, and Biden have labeled these great Americans as fascists, Nazis, and now, garbage.
“There’s no way to spin it: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris don’t just hate President Trump, they despise the tens of millions of Americans who support him,” Leavitt said.
White House Transcript of Biden’s Comments
“And just the other day, a speaker at his [Trump’s] rally called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage.’ 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.
“Now, Trump has di-—tried to divide the country based on race, ethnicity, anything that does harm, to take their eye off the ball about what the terrible things he’s done and will do. But Kamala Harris has fought for all Americans and will be a president for all of America.”
