Biden clarifies 'garbage' comment after latest US election controversy


WATCH: Joe Biden's 'trashy' comments after Puerto Rico controversy

President Joe Biden has tried to clarify comments that have sparked a new controversy after he was accused of calling Donald Trump's supporters “trash”.

He was responding to comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who sparked controversy by calling the US territory of Puerto Rico a “trash island” during a Trump rally on Sunday.

Biden was quoted as saying early Tuesday, “The only trash I see floating around out there is his supporters.”

The White House later released a transcript that included an apostrophe, and said the president was talking about Hinchcliffe's words, not all Trump supporters.

The transcript reads, “The only trash I see floating around out there is from (Trump's) supporters… Their demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it's un-American.”

Biden himself later addressed his video call with the nonprofit organization Voto Latino, writing on Referred to in – which is the only word I can think of to describe it.

“Their 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.”

But Trump's supporters have seized on these comments and compared them to a controversial comment by Hillary Clinton during Trump's first run for office in 2016, when she said that half of Trump's supporters were “deplorable people.” Were from “Tokri”.

As the war of words escalated, Trump himself suggested that his rival for the White House, Kamala Harris, was running a “hate campaign.”

During his campaign, Trump has repeatedly referred to his opponents as the “enemy from within” – rhetoric that Harris has described as divisive.

Referring to Biden's comments, Trump said: “You can't lead America if you don't love the American people.”

The Madison Square Garden rally referenced by Biden — during which Hinchcliffe and others sparked outrage with a variety of comments — has now been defended by Trump as a “love fest.”

He acknowledged that “somebody said some bad things” but said he did not think it was “no big deal”.

He avoided issuing an apology demanded by prominent figures on the island, which is a US territory. Many Republicans – including those from neighborhoods with strong Latino populations – were outraged.

In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, members of the 90,000-strong Puerto Rican population told the BBC they would not forget the joke.

Residents of Puerto Rico – a US island territory in the Caribbean – are unable to vote in presidential elections, but the large diaspora in the US can.

Hinchcliffe himself has defended his material, saying that his critics “have no sense of humor”.

Biden's comments on the uproar threatened to eclipse Tuesday evening's rally by Kamala Harris, who is running for the White House as the Democratic nominee after Biden withdrew from the contest early.

Harris delivered what her campaign has called a “closing argument” in Washington DC – the same venue from which Trump spoke shortly before his supporters rioted at the US Capitol building on January 6, 2021.

He urged voters to “turn the page on the drama and conflict” in American politics.

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North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher covers the White House race in his twice-weekly US Elections Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can Sign up herePeople outside the UK can do this Sign up here,


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