US President Joe Biden faced criticism on Tuesday for seemingly referring to Republican Donald Trump's supporters as 'garbage' during an election campaign call.
Speaking in a video call with the nonprofit VotoLatino, Biden addressed the controversy sparked by one of Trump's warm-up speakers at a New York rally on Sunday, who referred to Puerto Rico as a 'floating island of garbage.' 'The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,' Biden said. 'His, his, his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and it's un-American.'
The White House clarified that Biden was referring to Trump's rhetoric, not his supporters. 'The President referred to the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as 'garbage,' said White House spokesperson Andrew Bates.
Biden's vice president, Kamala Harris, is in a tight race against Trump, with Election Day just one week away. Trump's campaign quickly condemned Biden's comments, with the Republican presidential candidate calling them 'terrible.' 'These people. Terrible, terrible -- terrible to say a thing like that,' Trump said at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
Trump compared Biden's comments to when Hillary Clinton, during her 2016 presidential run against Trump, said half of the Republican's supporters were 'deplorables.' 'Garbage, I think is worse, right?' quipped Trump in Pennsylvania.
Trump's running mate J.D. Vance called Biden's words 'disgusting.' 'Kamala Harris and her boss Joe Biden are attacking half of the country,' he said.
At the Trump rally in New York on Sunday, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe made jokes about Puerto Rico being a 'floating island of garbage' and further racist remarks about African Americans and Hispanic immigrants' sex lives. Puerto Rico, an American island territory in the Caribbean, does not have voting rights in US elections, but its diaspora in the United States, numbering almost six million, is eligible to vote, according to Pew Research Center.
On Tuesday, Trump continued his campaign's effort to distance himself from the comedian's comments. 'I don't know if it's a big deal or not, but I don't want anybody making nasty jokes or stupid jokes,' he told broadcaster Fox News. 'Probably, he shouldn't have been there.'
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