Biden Clarifies “Garbage” Comment Amid Backlash 

U.S. President Joe Biden. Credit | Reuters
U.S. President Joe Biden. Credit | Reuters

United States: US President Joe Biden has attempted to explain remarks that elicited a new dispute after he criticized a quip by a comic who supports ex-president Donald Trump. 

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On Sunday comedian Tony Hinchcliffe referred to Puerto Rico a US territory as an “island of garbage” during a Trump rally. Trump has, however, disowned the remark. 

Biden sought to argue the “unsubstantiated claims” back at the other side on a Zoom interview on Tuesday which marked the last week of the 2024 US election campaign. 

Some who listened to his comments recalled he was antagonising Trump ‘supporters’ in general but he later argued he was antagonising the words of Hinchcliffe solely. 

The White House issued a transcript that tried to disprove this by highlighting what the difference an apostrophe can make when the president is speaking in a video conference with the non-profit organisation, Voto Latino. 

As the transcript quoted Biden stating, “The only garbage I see floating out there is (Trump’s) supporter’s – his – his demonisation of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American,” BBC reported. 

Moreover, Biden himself posted on X, “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 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,” he added. 

However Trump’s supporters have waded into the comments drawing parallels to another remark by Hillary Clinton in the previous election year when she described Trump’s supporters as coming from a “basket of deplorables”. 

As fur flew and tensions rose, Trump himself labelled his foe for the presidency Kamala Harris a “Campaign of Hate.” 

The rally at Madison Square Garden about which Hinchcliffe and others made Biden offend himself has now been referred to by Trump as a “love fest”. 

He also acknowledged that “somebody said some bad things” however mentioned he did not think it was “a big deal”. 

He refrained from an apology called for by leaders from the island, which is a territory of the United States. 

Some of the upset Republicans were from the neighborhoods that have large Latino populations. Many of the 90,000 Puerto Ricans living in Philadelphia, a voting district in the swing state of Pennsylvania, told the BBC they had not forgotten the joke.