Democrats had to clean up after President Joe Biden’s damaging “garbage” comment about Donald Trump’s supporters.
Prominent Democrat Josh Shapiro, the governor of Pennsylvania, offered no support or explanation for Biden’s words and Kamala Harris kept her distance.
‘The only rubbish I see floating around there is rubbish [Trump’s] supporters,” Biden said during a fundraising Zoom.
Shapiro was asked about Biden’s comment, just hours after the president made it during a fundraising Zoom call that undermined Harris’ “unity” message about reaching out to Republicans just as she delivered it to thousands of fans outside the White House.
“I hadn’t heard that until now, Kaitlan, so I’m just going to give you kind of my fresh reaction to it,” Shapiro told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Tuesday night when asked about it.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said he would “never insult the good people of Pennsylvania or any American, even if they chose to support a candidate I did not support,” when asked about the “trash” comments from President Joe Biden.
“I would never insult the good people of Pennsylvania or any American, even if they chose to support a candidate I do not support,” he said, essentially making fun of Biden.
Vice President Kamala Harris herself also distanced herself from Biden in her first comments on the topic on Wednesday morning.
“First of all, he clarified his comments. “I strongly disagree with criticizing people based on who they voted for,” she told reporters.
She tried to make it clear that it was Biden, not her, who made the damaging statement.
Harris said she will be “a president for all Americans, whether you voted for me or not.” She said Biden called her last night, but the explosive comments “didn’t come up.”
The White House frantically tried to clean up the comment itself last night, after Donald Trump and his allies used it to attack Biden and compare it to Hillary Clinton’s infamous “basket of deplorables” remark.
‘There was a speaker recently [Trump’s] The meeting called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of trash,'” Biden, 81, told a Latino advocacy group, condemning the comment before weighing in himself.
“The only trash I see floating out there is his supporters, his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and un-American. It’s completely at odds with everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”
The White House claimed Biden was referring to comments made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe during Trump’s Sunday rally at Madison Square Garden — and said his remarks contained a critical apostrophe.
“The president called the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally ‘trash,'” White House spokesman Andrew Bates told DailyMail.com.
He pointed to a White House transcript with the crucial punctuation. Biden said, “The only trash I see floating out there is that of his supporters – his – his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and un-American. It’s completely at odds with everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”
Allies are forced to clean up President Biden’s ‘garbage’ comment
Donald Trump and running mate JD Vance responded to the comment
Running mate Tim Walz joined the cleanup, saying and claiming Biden’s comments did not undermine the campaign’s ‘unity message’
The Harris camp sent running mate Tim Walz on damage control duty Wednesday morning.
“You compared Trump supporters to Nazis. Biden called them “garbage.” Hillary called them “deplorables.” Doesn’t that undermine your false ‘unity’ message?’ CBS Mornings host Tony Dokoupil asked Walz.
“No, certainly not,” was his response.
In a separate interview on ABC’s Good Morning America Wednesday morning, Walz tried to focus the attention back on Trump.
“Donald Trump’s divisive rhetoric must end. He called this a garbage country and continues to attack the enemy from within,” Walz complained.
He said Harris’ campaign message is: “There’s a place for all of us here.”
Biden’s comment was damaging on several levels. It deflected Democrats’ efforts to focus on racist and offensive comments from speakers at Trump’s rally and his own threats to go after the “enemy within.”
And it undermined the candidate’s carefully crafted message in her speech, which is part of an effort to repel support from Republicans and independents in a razor-thin race for the White House.
Vice President Kamala Harris herself also distanced herself from Biden in her first comments on the topic on Wednesday morning
“I promise I will listen to experts,” Harris said Tuesday night. “To those who will be affected by the decisions I make. And to people who disagree with me.’ She contrasted her goals with Trump, whom she called a “little tyrant.”
a Biden ally said Politics that a harsh reading of Biden’s comments did not hold water, because he was sometimes too cozy with Republicans for Democrats’ tastes.
“The man is from Scranton, Pennsylvania. He likes Republicans. He was friends with people in Congress that the Dems would certainly make colorful comments about today (Strom Thurmond). The guy put on a MAGA hat,” the ally said. “If anything, he’s a little too friendly to people who like Trump.”
The Harris camp has used Biden sparingly, including a trip to New Hampshire, where he made another gaffe and said it was time to “lock him up politically,” referring to Trump.
That undermined Harris’ own protests against supporters who cheered “lock him up” at her rallies.