CNN —
Joe Biden, once hopeful of winning a second term, was largely on the back burner a week before the election.
No more.
The president has unexpectedly inserted himself into the campaign stronghold of former rival Donald Trump, who is struggling to quell anger over a bigoted rally held at Madison Square Garden earlier this week. He may have given the former president significant aid.
Biden referenced Puerto Rico, which was vilified by a comedian as a “floating island of trash” at Trump’s event Sunday night. But his clumsy defense of the U.S. territories and key swing voters in the continental U.S. diaspora sparked fresh political fire, prompting Vice President Kamala Harris’s speech Tuesday night with the White House in the background. It was a distraction from the massive closing argument speech. .
“And just the other day, a speaker at a rally called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of trash.’ Now let me tell you something…I don’t know any Puerto Ricans I know…or Puerto Rico where I am (my They are good, decent, honorable people,” Biden said virtually. Remarks made during a rally to encourage Latinos to vote in support of Harris.
“The only trash floating around is his supporters,” Biden said, pausing for a moment before continuing. “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and un-American.”
The White House quickly sought to clarify the president’s comments, with press secretary Andrew Bates saying the president was not referring to the former president’s supporters, but to “hateful remarks” made at a rally in New York. . He said Biden actually said, “The only trash floating around out there is his supporters, his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. It’s outrageous and un-American.”
And in a further sign that the White House is aware of the possible political implications of this episode, Biden himself addressed the issue on social media.
“Earlier today, I called the hateful anti-Puerto Rican rhetoric spewed by Trump supporters at the Madison Square Garden rally trash, and that’s the only word I can think of to describe it. The demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I wanted to say. The comments at that rally do not reflect who we are as a nation,” Biden wrote to X.
However, the damage may already have been done.
Biden’s comments come after then-Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016 called half of Trump’s supporters “deplorable” for being “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, and Islamophobic.” It was immediately compared to the statement that the government should put it in people’s baskets. Her comments have become a rallying cry for President Trump and conservative media, and a badge of honor for Trump fans who see them as looking down on East Coast Democratic elites and disrespecting their way of life.
And the Trump campaign tried to generate similar momentum by piggybacking on Biden’s comments, saying the former president “is committed to supporting Latinos, Black voters, union members, angel moms, law enforcement officers, border patrol agents, and most of all, America. It is supported by the people.” Meanwhile, his opponents have “labeled these great Americans fascists, Nazis, and now trash,” Trump campaign national spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt said, adding, “There is no excuse. No. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris not only hate President Trump, they despise the tens of millions of Americans who support him.”
No one knows how this latest development in a tumultuous election campaign will affect the final outcome. But in the blistering heat of the final weeks of a deadlocked presidential campaign, where even the slightest inaccuracy can cause serious political repercussions, Biden’s true intentions don’t matter. Maybe. Awareness is everything.
Just as Ms. Harris’ team was hoping to keep the spotlight on the Madison Square Garden rally reflected in Mr. Trump’s contrasting messages on Tuesday night, the president gave Ms. Harris a political caused confusion. She is almost certain to be asked whether she now considers Trump’s supporters “trash” as well. Her answer only prolongs the conversation. The former president is also likely to use the gaffe to argue that the Democratic Party has contempt for Americans working in the center.
Trump’s fundraising email Tuesday evening read: Then they called you a fascist! And a while ago, Kamala’s boss Biden called you trash! ”
The campaign is already trying to spin the claim that Trump admired Adolf Hitler’s general into a claim that Harris believes all of her supporters are Nazis.
Biden’s “trash” comments could also give President Trump a chance to finally move on from the backlash against Puerto Rico sparked by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at a New York rally. “He probably shouldn’t have been there,” President Trump said of the comedian in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity that aired Tuesday night. His previous comments that the event was an “absolute love fest” did nothing to assuage the controversy.
More broadly, Biden’s comments, which would be portrayed by pro-Trump media as disdain for the former president’s supporters, are just the impression of Harris as a unifier to win over Republicans frustrated with Trump’s extremism. It was uttered at the exact moment when he was about to give. I’m not ready to take the plunge and vote for a Democrat just yet.
“This is my pledge to you,” Harris said Tuesday night at a rally at the Ellipse in Washington. This is the same spot where President Trump told his supporters to “fight like hell” before the Jan. 6, 2021, invasion of the U.S. Capitol. “We pledge to seek common ground and common sense solutions to make your lives better.”
The vice president continued, “To those who disagree with me, unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe that people who disagree with me are the enemy. He wants to put them in jail. I’m thinking about giving them a seat at the table.
Gretchen Carlson says Harris’ closing speech was ‘the antithesis of division’
Clinton and Obama warn not to insult Trump supporters
Whatever Biden’s intentions, his comments were made in defiance of advice to Democrats from two other presidents, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Both presidents implored activists during the Democratic National Convention to engage in political battles with Trump but not to disrespect voters.
“Meet people where they are. Don’t put them down… Treat them with the same respect that you would want them to treat you,” Clinton said, urging neighbors to “meet people where they are.” He urged delegates to carefully present the vice president’s claims.
President Obama cited the risk that name-calling could lead voters to conclude that all politicians are the same. “A sense of mutual respect must be part of our message. Our politics have become so polarized these days that, across political lines, we all need to be on the same page on every issue. They seem to be quick to assume the worst in other countries unless they agree with us,” he said. “We start to think that the only way to win is to scold and shame and yell at the other person. And after a while, the public either refrains from voting or tries to vote at all. It will disappear.”
Democrats are trying to trivialize the uproar over some of the president’s profanity, whether intentionally or not, as they warn they could elect the man Harris denounced Tuesday as president next week. It is highly likely that this event will be considered a significant event. “Vile tyrant”
And the verbal gaffes by Mr. Biden and other Democrats pale in comparison to the often vulgar rhetoric and insensitive comments of the Republican candidates. Biden recently opened a rally with a crude comment about the anatomy of the late professional golf legend Arnold Palmer. And while Biden’s notorious slip-ups got him into trouble, the significance of his remarks lies in the fact that Trump has already made false claims in Pennsylvania that Democrats are cheating in Lancaster County on Tuesday night. It’s not that serious. Attempts to sow doubts about the fairness of elections in advance.
But the aftermath of Hillary Clinton’s “deplorable” comments in 2016 showed that inaccuracies and implicit disrespect can haunt candidates and their surrogates in the final stages of an election. In a close race that could be decided by just a few thousand votes in battleground states, neither Harris nor Trump can afford to make mistakes. And the history of presidential elections is littered with incidents that may seem insignificant at the time, but can have broader implications. Mr. Hinchcliffe’s bashing of Puerto Rico is typical of Mr. Trump, who is scrambling to appease Puerto Rican voters in Lehigh County, a key region of Pennsylvania where he hoped to cut into Democratic votes.
Tuesday’s controversy could also renew speculation about Biden’s future role in the campaign. Ultimately, he was forced to shelve his re-election bid in June after a disastrous debate performance on CNN exposed his advanced age and raised questions about his cognitive ability. He has appeared with Harris several times, but has been sparsely used by Harris’ campaign in recent weeks. And, as CNN reported on Tuesday, his gaffe prompted reactions ranging from eye-opening to outright anger from some of Harris’ campaign aides.
“We have to lock him up,” the president said in New Hampshire last week, referring to Trump, before quickly adding, “lock him up politically. Lock him out. That’s what we’re going to do.” The comment quickly spread on conservative talk radio and social media, with Republicans saying it supports President Trump’s claim that Biden is weaponizing the Justice Department against Republican candidates. insisted. On Friday in Arizona, Mr. Biden referred to former Rep. Gabby Giffords, who survived being shot in the head on the campaign trail in 2011, in the past tense, suggesting she is no longer alive.
Aides have pointed out his history and habit of making gaffes, dismissing them as “vintage Biden,” but they also acknowledge that there is no room for error.
CNN’s Kayla Tauche, MJ Lee and Kevin Liptak reported that one official involved in discussions about Biden’s role said, “We’re in ‘do no harm’ mode. ” he said.
That approach may have gone off the rails Tuesday night.
