A remark from President Joe Biden on Tuesday, in which he appeared to call Trump’s supporters “garbage,” is being compared by conservatives to Hillary Clinton’s “deplorables” comment in 2016.
While speaking on a video call with Voto Latino, an organization which encourages young Hispanics and Latinos to vote, Biden criticized the controversial joke regarding Puerto Rico made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at Trump’s Sunday rally in New York.
“Just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage,’” Biden said. “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden said, before pausing and adding “his demonization of Latino is unconscionable.”
While some argued Biden was saying the “garbage” line didn’t refer to Trump supporters, just their stances on immigrants, the remark was immediately flagged by Trump’s base, who attempted to drum up the same outrage they exhibited after being called a “basket of deplorables” by Clinton in 2016.
Prominent right-wing figures such as Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) turned the moment into a rallying call and urged their followers to get out and vote.
“Joe Biden today: Trump supporters are ‘garbage.’ It’s giving off Hillary Clinton’s ‘deplorables’ comments all over again,” wrote a poster.
The White House responded to the uproar by claiming that Biden actually referred to Hinchcliffe as garbage, as opposed to Trump’s entire base.
Biden also made an attempt to deny the complaints by issuing a statement 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,” Biden said. “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.”
Yet critics of Biden saw the explanation as nothing more than an attempt at damage control.
Biden’s replies were soon flooded with comments from Trump’s biggest supporters, who argued that the president’s remark proved Harris was unworthy to serve in the highest office.
“Does anyone actually believe Joe Biden wrote this at 11 o’clock last night? Does it even remotely sound like him?” Donald Trump Jr. asked about the post. “We heard him he was very clear… Surprisingly clear for Joe Biden. The hate of the Harris Biden administration is shining through & no intern is going to cover it up!”
Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), Trump’s running mate, also wasted little time before using Biden’s comment to attack Harris.
“A mother mourning her son who died of a fentanyl overdose is not garbage,” Vance wrote. “A truck driver who can’t afford rising diesel prices is not garbage. A father who wants to afford groceries is not garbage. Kamala Harris and Joe Biden ought to be ashamed of themselves.”
But not everyone is convinced that Biden’s jab will be as influential as Clinton’s.
“This doesn’t really hit as much as the ‘basket of deplorables’ thing because to explain it you first have to lay the groundwork that Trump held a rally at Madison Square Garden and paid a guy to go out and call Puerto Rico an island of garbage,” one X user said.
Critics of Trump are also arguing that the former president and his supporters have made vastly more disparaging remarks about their political foes over the past eight years.
Either way, it remains unclear whether Biden’s “garbage” will have the same staying power as Clinton’s “deplorables.”
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