US President Joe Biden has been severally criticized for referring to the supporters of former President Donald Trump as “garbage.” The remark was in reaction to a controversial comment by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who, during Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden, referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.”
Hinchcliffe’s crude and racially charged rhetoric has earned him wide condemnation among Democrats and leading Latino leaders, especially because Puerto Ricans represent an increasingly crucial voting bloc in key swing states, including Pennsylvania. Biden told a conference call organized by the Hispanic advocacy group Voto Latino that he stood with the people of Puerto Rico, celebrating their dignity and contributions to the United States.
“The only pollution I see are his supporters out there,” Biden said in response to what was said at Trump’s rally. Biden termed Trump’s demonization of Latinos as “unconscionable” and “un-American”, adding that their denigration is antithetical to the values America is supposed to represent.
The backlash came thick and fast, with Republican Party critics likening his comments to Hillary Clinton’s “deplorable” remark made during the 2016 campaign, suggesting that Biden had just insulted millions of Americans. Trump then piled on at his rally in Pennsylvania: “Wow. That’s terrible,” he said, linking Biden’s comment to Clinton’s. “But she said deplorable, that didn’t work out. Garbage, I think, is worse, right?”
In response, Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt- another national press secretary of the Trump campaign-accused Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris of holding “such contempt” for the “tens of millions of Americans who support him,” framing the question of discourse as one of a fundamental divide between the two political camps.
Biden further explained his comments on social media this way: “Earlier today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter. as garbage-which is the only word I can think of to describe it.” He emphasized, once more, that such comments are not American.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, an ally to Harris, was more conciliatory: “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.”
Trump backtracked from Hinchcliffe’s comments, claiming he did not know the comedian. “Somebody said there was a comedian that joked about Puerto Rico or something, and I have no idea who he is,” Trump said, adding he does not condone “nasty jokes” about Americans.
Coming just days before the US Presidential elections this controversy, which comes just days before the November 5 US Presidential elections, is expected to raise the political temperature as candidates enter the final stretch of campaigning.
