President Joe Biden walked back comments in which he referred to supporters of former President Donald Trump as “garbage,” claiming he was only addressing pro-Trump insult comic Tony Hinchcliffe, who called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” at a Trump rally.
The event in support of the Republican nominee at Madison Square Garden on Sunday featured Hinchcliffe, known for his comedy podcast Kill Tony, as part of the lineup of speakers. Hinchcliffe made a jab at Puerto Rico, an island territory of the United States, in his remarks: “There’s a lot going on. I don’t know if you know this but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.”
Biden rebuked the joke from the comedian in an interview on Tuesday while denouncing supposed racism against Hispanics but then applied the same jab to supporters of Trump.
“They are good, decent, honorable people,” Biden said of Puerto Ricans before discussing Trump backers. “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done.”
Biden later issued an official statement on social media claiming that he was seeking to address the remarks from Hinchcliffe rather than making comments about the Trump voter base.
“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,” the commander-in-chief remarked. “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.”
Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters on Wednesday that Biden “clarified his comments” and that she strongly disagrees with “any criticism of people based on who they vote for."
Many progressives have similarly expressed their offense and criticized the joke about Puerto Rico, while conservatives dismissed offense over the joke as needlessly sensitive. “I think that we have to stop getting so offended at every little thing,” Ohio Republican Senator JD Vance commented. “Can we all just take a chill pill and take a joke from time to time?” asked the Republican vice presidential nominee.
