Biden sparks GOP backlash with 'garbage' comment on Trump-MSG rally

WASHINGTON – Joe Biden condemned offensive jokes podcast host Tony Hinchcliffe made about Puerto Rico during Donald Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden over the weekend, But the president also made a remark that some prominent Republicans were quick to call an insult to the former president's supporters.

“The other day a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a 'floating island of garbage,'” Biden said during a Zoom call with Voto Latino, an organization that encourages Latino and Hispanic youth to become politically active. The president said the Puerto Rican people he knew in his home state of Delaware were “good, decent, honorable people.”

Biden added that the only “trash” he saw “floating out there” were supporters, although it was unclear whether he was referring just to Hinchcliffe or all Trump fans. The White House released a transcript Tuesday evening in which it sought to clarify that the president was referring to Hinchcliffe's act.

Biden's comment was quickly rebuked by Republican lawmakers.

“He just called half the country trash. Despicable,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, wrote in a social media post.

Trump, who held a rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, described Biden's comments as “horrible” and compared them to Hillary Clinton's comments in which she called some of Trump's supporters “deplorables” in 2016.

“Garbage is worse, in my opinion,” Trump said, before mockingly asking the crowd at the rally to forgive Biden because he didn’t know what he was saying.

In a post on XFormerly known as Twitter, Biden said later in the evening that he was referring to “the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico expressed by Trump supporter Hinchcliffe.” “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That's all I wanted to say. The comments at this rally do not reflect who we are as a nation.”

White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement that Biden called the “hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally” “garbage” and posted a transcript of Biden's comments on X.

Biden's criticism came as Democratic presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris gave a speech in Washington, DC, outlining her desire to move the United States from an era of divisive rhetoric and name-calling to one marked by unity and compromise .

When reached for comment, the Harris campaign referred USA TODAY to Bates' statement.

Harris and Trump have made personal comments against each other throughout the campaign – each calling the other a fascist and insulting him, among other things – while portraying himself as the candidate who will repair the country's partisan divide.

Contributors: David Jackson and Rebecca Morin, USA TODAY

Biden sparks GOP backlash with 'garbage' comment on Trump-MSG rally

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