How Donald Trump came to sum up the 2024 US election campaign in a garbage truck

Welcome back to your weekly update on US politics, where North America bureau chief Jade Macmillan fills you in on the biggest developments in America as we head into Election Day on Tuesday.

Three months after his dramatic exit from the US election, Joe Biden should not be a central figure in the final spurt between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.

As he lined up with other residents of his home state of Delaware to cast his vote this week, the president was already largely excluded from his running mate's campaign.

When asked if it was a bittersweet moment before the election he was due to take part in, he insisted it was “just sweet”.

But within days, the president made exactly the kind of faux pas that cast doubt on his candidacy in the first place.

Biden was responding to a widely condemned joke about Puerto Rico being a “floating island of trash” made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden.

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The official White House transcript lays out how the president's comments began to unravel.

“I don't know – I – I don't know the Puerto Rican – that I know – or a Puerto Rican where I am – in my home state of Delaware, they are good, decent, honorable people,” he said.

But it was the next line of comments that immediately caught attention.

“The only trash I see floating out there is that of his supporters — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and un-American.”

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Note the placement of the apostrophe in the word “supporter” in the transcript.

The president argues he is referring to what he calls Hinchcliffe's “hateful rhetoric” and not the former president's supporters in general.

But the Trump campaign was quick to move. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio interrupted a campaign rally in Pennsylvania to deliver the “breaking news” about Biden's remarks, prompting boos from the crowd.

“That’s terrible,” Trump replied. “Remember Hillary, she said ‘deplorable’… that didn’t work. 'Garbage' is worse in my opinion, right?”

Trump compared Hillary Clinton's infamous 2016 comment that some of his supporters were a “basket of deplorables.”

He then held a rally in North Carolina where he argued that Biden had “finally said what he and Kamala really think of our supporters.”

But that wasn't enough for the showman Trump.

At his next campaign stop in Wisconsin, he stepped off his plane wearing a neon orange vest before walking along the tarmac to a garbage truck emblazoned with Trump's campaign signs.

“How do you like my garbage truck?” he asked through the passenger seat window. “This truck is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden.”

Breaking through competing controversies

The last few days before a big election become hectic as candidates pick up the pace and media interest intensifies.

While the two “garbage” controversies have certainly created distractions for both sides, it is not clear whether either side will have a significant impact on the campaign.

But Biden's comments on a phone call with a Latino voter group came around the same time his vice president gave one of her biggest speeches since securing the Democratic nomination.

Harris made a symbolic decision when she gave her so-called “closing statement” at the same spot near the White House where Trump rallied his supporters before the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

“Donald Trump has spent a decade dividing the American people and making them fear each other,” she told the tens of thousands of people gathered around the National Mall.

“I will always listen to you, even if you don’t choose me.”

Harris has spent a lot of energy reaching out to conservative voters who would normally vote Republican but can't stand Trump.

At their rally this week in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, I met Justin Warren – a “lifelong Republican” who supports the vice president.

He called Biden's comments a “terrible statement.”

“I'm not going to try to explain why he would say that, you know it could have been a gaffe or a faux pas on his part. This is wrong.”

However, he accepted the vice president's response when she said she “strongly disagrees” with criticism of people based on who they vote for. And he didn't think it would hurt their efforts to reach more voters on his side of politics.

“I privately think there are a lot of Republicans who feel the same way I do,” he said.

“They’re just afraid to speak up.”

“A long history of hate”

Democrats had previously seized on the Hinchcliffe joke in an attempt to connect with Latino voters in the seven swing states where the election is expected to be decided.

Trump's team took the relatively rare step of issuing a statement after the Madison Square Garden rally saying the comedian's views did not reflect those of the former president.

Trump later claimed that he did not know Hinchcliffe and that he had done more for Puerto Rico than any other president. But he did not publicly condemn the joke and generally defended the rally as a “love fest.”

People living on the island's territory are not allowed to take part in presidential elections.

But there are significant numbers of people of Puerto Rican heritage who live in areas like the majority-Latino city of Allentown, Pennsylvania, where Trump campaigned amid the fallout.

Some of his supporters there – including a woman with family in Puerto Rico – pointed out that it was not Trump himself who made the “garbage” comment.

While Christian Rice, a 23-year-old wearing an American flag jumpsuit, argued that it wouldn't change anything given the already entrenched views about Trump.

“No one is voting for Trump because they think he’s a very articulate and very respectful guy,” he told me.

“He's a guy who speaks his mind and the people around him speak their opinions. I don’t think it’s beneficial, but I don’t think it’s going to change anything dramatically in the election cycle.”

A small group of Latino protesters marching outside the event didn't see it that way.

“These recent comments are just a long history of hate,” said protester Armando Jimenez. “You say the quiet part out loud.”

What to Watch: Worrying Signs?

The chaotic aftermath of the 2020 election has severely impacted preparations for next week.

Trump has claimed for years that voter fraud cost him the presidency. This is despite extensive research finding no evidence of this.

Now Trump and some of his allies appear to be laying the groundwork for a similar claim if he is defeated.

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Trouble spots have already emerged. Trump has made allegations of fraud in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where an investigation into suspicious voter registration applications is ongoing.

Local officials insist that the discovery of the potentially problematic forms shows their systems are working.

Security has been tightened at election offices, including in Maricopa County, Arizona, where armed protesters gathered in 2020.

And concerns have been raised that Trump supporters are trying to block certification of election results at the state or local level.

If the result is close, legal challenges from both sides could continue for months afterward. So as we find ourselves in the final leg of the race, the finish line may be further away than it looks.

With that in mind, a quick thank you to our readers for joining me in these weekly updates on the extraordinary elections so far.

See you on the other side.

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