It’s a spectacle, folks. President Biden, apparently eager to lend a hand to his VP Kamala Harris’s “unity” message, managed to step right on her big night. As Harris took the stage from the Ellipse, her speech was all about “common ground” and “giving everyone a seat at the table,”
Biden was busy on a virtual call with Voto Latino making sure his message reached another audience altogether. His take? He called Trump supporters the real “floating garbage” after comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s controversial performance at a Trump rally in Madison Square Garden. Biden went on to call Trump’s rhetoric toward Latinos “unconscionable” and “un-American.” But as the backlash hit, it became clear that he was basically repeating Hinchcliffe’s crude jab to insult a good chunk of the voting public. This went about as well as you’d imagine.
The reactions were swift. From J.D. Vance to Tom Cotton, Republican leaders condemned Biden’s words, calling them divisive and offensive to the Americans he’s supposed to represent. Many noted the irony of Biden’s comment overshadowing Harris’s speech, with Sen. Tom Cotton adding that if Harris were as outraged by a comedian’s joke as she claimed, then surely she’d have something to say about Biden’s insult, right?
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.
https://t.co/oLXa0Misng https://t.co/Y67u7rZXVs— JD Vance (@JDVance) October 30, 2024
Kamala Harris was deeply outraged by a comedian’s joke.
If she has any decency or integrity, she will condemn her partner Joe Biden’s despicable statement calling half the country garbage.
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) October 30, 2024
Meanwhile, Fox News and conservative voices on social media didn’t waste any time pointing out the déjà vu, calling it “Hillary’s ‘deplorables’ moment all over again.” Josh Holmes, co-host of the Ruthless podcast, went so far as to wonder if cable news would cover Biden’s “garbage” remark with the same outrage they reserve for Trump’s words. After all, calling millions of voters “garbage” from the White House steps should earn some airtime, right?
Trump himself chimed in during a rally in Allentown, drawing a parallel to Clinton’s infamous “deplorables” comment in 2016. And just like Hillary’s remark back then, it seems Biden’s “garbage” comment might be sticking with voters. Trump chuckled at the blunder, telling supporters, “Garbage is worse.” He even tossed in a little jab about Biden liking him more than Harris—just a classic Trump moment.
“Remember Hillary? She said ‘deplorable’ and then said ‘irredeemable,’ right? But she said ‘deplorable.’ That didn’t work out. ‘Garbage’ I think is worse,” Trump said to his supporters. “But he doesn’t know- you have to please forgive him. Please forgive him. For he not knoweth what he said.”
“And I’m convinced he likes me more than he likes Kamala,” Trump quipped.
Naturally, Biden’s team scrambled to walk it back, with the White House clarifying that the President only meant to call out the rhetoric, not the people. Biden himself took to X (formerly Twitter), insisting that his words were only meant for the “hateful rhetoric” at the Trump rally. Still, the damage was done. Biden’s statement undercut Harris’s whole message of unity, leaving her campaign with radio silence on the issue.
No, you called us garbage. It’s on tape. pic.twitter.com/bxb4UDnteN
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) October 30, 2024
If this is the “unity” message Harris plans to bring to Washington, it sure is an odd one—promoting tolerance one minute and then sweeping half the country into the “garbage” bin the next. And with Biden, it’s becoming a theme: preach unity, then go viral with a divisive remark just in time to sabotage his own campaign. So here we are, watching a President eager to lead with “empathy” while his No. 2’s pitch for “common ground” gets lost in a haze of insults.
