With only six days left in a nail-biting race, Vice President Kamala Harris seized her moment onstage, delivering what was meant to be her defining speech.
In front of a roaring crowd of tens of thousands, she promised: to turn the page on the political drama and restore a sense of calm. Harris cautioned her supporters that Donald Trump posed a direct threat to democracy, calling him a “petty tyrant” at the very site where, on January 6, 2021, Trump had once held a rally before his supporters stormed the Capitol.
But as Harris rallied voters, her boss, President Joe Biden, delivered a gaffe that handed Trump ammunition to shoot back in the last days of the 2024 election drama.
Biden’s Gaffe About Trump Voters as ‘Garbage’ Undercuts Harris’s Campaign
It was a last-minute twist, as President Joe Biden inadvertently diverted attention from Harris’s speech with his own remarks, setting off a firestorm and risking a major distraction as her campaign reached the homestretch. The president, in a clumsy virtual address aimed at helping Harris with Latino voters, mentioned Puerto Rico, reacting to derogatory comments made at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally.
In his effort to defend Puerto Ricans, Biden’s words ignited fresh controversy.
“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 any Puerto Rican or any Puerto Rico like that,” Biden passionately declared during a Latino event, as he sought to back Harris in swing states with significant Latino populations.
Biden went on, “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” adding, “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.” However, this line quickly spurred backlash, prompting the White House to clarify that the president had been referring to the rally’s “hateful rhetoric,” not Trump’s supporters at large.
Trump Strikes Back, Turning Gaffe Into a Rallying Cry
Wasting no time, Trump seized upon Biden’s slip-up, likening it to Hillary Clinton’s infamous 2016 “basket of deplorables” comment, which had become a rallying cry for his base. Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity, “They’ve taken someone who’s got nothing to do with our campaign, made a big deal about it, but I don’t know who this comedian even is.”
The original remark, delivered by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at Trump’s rally, had likened Puerto Rico to a “floating island of garbage.” While Trump tried to distance himself, saying he had no connection to the comedian’s words, Biden’s response had already provided the perfect opening for Trump to fire back.
