Biden calls Trump supporters 'garbage' evoking 'deplorables' insult

President Joe Biden overshadowed his vice president Kamala Harris' big 'closing' campaign speech by calling Donald Trump's supporters 'garbage' in an astonishing outburst. 

The 81-year-old commander-in-chief's bombshell gaffe evoked memories of Hillary Clinton's infamous dismissal of Trump voters as 'deplorables' in 2016, which contributed to her shock defeat.

It came as Harris was hoping to capture the nation's full attention with a carefully planned rally in front of the White House for 75,000 Democrats one week before Election Day. Harris used the event on Tuesday night to make her final case, declaring she would be a unifying president 'for all Americans'.

However, Biden, on a separate Zoom call with supporters, stepped on her moment by appearing to lash out at Trump supporters in what Republicans lambasted as a 'disgusting' attack.

The president was weighing in after a comedian at Trump's Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday compared Puerto Rico to a 'floating island of garbage'.

Biden said: 'The only garbage I see floating out there is his (Trump's) supporters.'

Trump seized on Biden's comment, declaring it was 'worse' than what Clinton said eight years ago, and Democrats immediately began distancing themselves from the president.

Biden later disputed that he had called Trump supporters 'garbage'. He said that by 'garbage' he meant 'hateful rhetoric' that had been on display at the Madison Square Garden rally.

He made the incendiary comment on a Zoom call organized by the advocacy group Voto Latino.

Biden told those on the call: '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 from, in my home state of Delaware, they're good, decent, honorable people.

'The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters, 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.'

As the gaffe exploded on social media Biden sought to limit the damage.

He said 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 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.'

Responding to the furor the White House released a transcript of Biden's comments in which the word 'supporter's' had an apostrophe.

Officials suggested the president was referring specifically and only to the pro-Trump comedian, Tony Hinchcliffe, who made the Puerto Rico 'garbage' joke.

The transcript said: '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.'

Spokesman Andrew Bates added that Biden 'referred to the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as "garbage".'

At a fundraiser in 2016, Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee at the time, dismissed Trump supporters by saying that 'half' fit into what she called a 'basket of deplorables.'

The comment became a rallying cry for Trump's supporters who began wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the word 'deplorable'.

When Biden's comment emerged Trump was at a rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He was told about it by Republican senator Marco Rubio while still on stage.

Rubio interrupted to tell the crowd he had 'breaking news' and that Biden had called them 'garbage'. He added: 'We are not garbage, we are patriots, we love America.'

Trump responded 'that's terrible' and recalled Clinton's 'deplorables' remark. He added: 'Garbage, I think. is worse.'

The former president went on: 'Please forgive him (Biden) because he knoweth not what he said.'

Trump's running mate J.D. Vance said of Biden's comment: '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.' 

Donald Trump Jr. said: 'The media spent all week crying about a joke from a comedian. Meanwhile, Tim Walz called Trump supporters Nazis. Kamala Harris refused to condemn it.

'And now Kamala's biggest Democrat ally, Joe Biden, is calling all Trump supporters "garbage". Absolutely disgusting!!!'

Elon Musk, the Trump-supporting Tesla and SpaceX chief, added: 'Biden just called half of America garbage.’ 

Josh Shapiro, governor of the key battleground state of Pennsylvania, was among the first Democrats to distance themselves from Biden's comment.

Shapiro was live on CNN when informed of the remark.

He said: '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. It's certainly not words I would choose.'