President Biden aims to smooth over tensions caused by his ‘garbage’ comment about Trump supporters, insisting that his words were not meant to disrespect Latino communities.
On Tuesday ,the President of the US clarified the comments that he made earlier, referring to supporters of former President Donald Trump as “garbage.”
While conversing during a Voto Latino get-out-the-vote call, Biden, in reaction to Trump’s offensive rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, said, “And just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico ‘a floating island of garbage.’ Well, let me tell you something … I don’t know the Puerto Rican that I know… or Puerto Rico where I’m – in my home state of Delaware – they’re good, decent, honorable people.”
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden said, pausing for a moment before continuing.
He added, “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.”
Soon after he made the remarks the Republicans quickly slammed Biden and compared his comments to Hillary Clinton's 2016 statement that half of Trump's followers were "deplorables,"
“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 posted on X later that evening.
“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.”
As per CNN, on the president’s comment, a White House spokesperson said that Biden had meant “supporter’s” rather than “supporters,” arguing that he had actually said this: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter’s – his – his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.”
“The President referred to the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as garbage,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said.
