White House seeks to play clean up after Biden calls Trump supporters ‘garbage’

The White House attempted to walk back President Biden’s comments after the president unleashed a firestorm after calling Trump supporters “garbage.”

During a virtual Vice President Kamla Harris campaign call with Voto Latino, Biden took a swipe at former President Trump’s rally in Madison Square Garden, which made headlines after insult comedian Tony Hinchiffe made jokes mocking different ethnic groups, with one joke referring to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.”

“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden said. “[Trump’s] demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it is un-American.”

His remarks were quickly likened to Hillary Clinton’s labeling of half of Trump supporters as belonging in “a basket of deplorables” in 2016, a comment that was widely seen as undermining her campaign.

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Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at The PPL Center on October 29, 2024, in Allentown, Pennsylvania.  (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images))

White House spokesperson Andrew Bates told Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich that President Biden “referred to the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as ‘garbage.’”

“The president was referencing a joke by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe in which he likened Puerto Rico to an island of floating ‘garbage’ in the middle of the ocean,” he said.

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The White House earlier told NBC News that the president was referring to Hinchcliffe.

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Later, Biden tried to further clarify his comments, saying that he was denouncing Hinchicliffe’s comments – not Trump supporters.

“Earlier today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporters at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage—which is the only word I can think of to describe it,” Biden wrote in a post on X. “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say. The comments at that rally don’t reflect who we are as a nation.”

Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at The PPL Center on October 29, 2024 in Allentown, Pennsylvania. With one week until Election Day, Trump is campaigning for re-election in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Speaking at a campaign event with Trump on Tuesday in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) picked up Biden’s remark as “breaking news” and told Trump supporters that Biden had marginalized a huge number of everyday Americans as “garbage.”

Trump Campaign National Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that Biden and Harris “despise the tens of millions” who support him.

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“There’s no way to spin it: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris don’t just hate President Trump, they despise the tens of millions of Americans who support him,” she wrote in a release. 

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro looks on as U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks following a briefing on Interstate-95 highway emergency repair and reconstruction efforts, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on June 17, 2023.  (Julia Nikhinson / AFP) (Photo by JULIA NIKHINSON/AFP via Getty Images)

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Backlash from the comments came from both sides of the aisle, with Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro condemning Biden’s remarks.

“I’m giving you my fresh reaction to it,” he told Fox News Radio Political Analyst Josh Kraushaar on Tuesday. “I would never insult the good people of Pennsylvania or any Americans even if they chose to support a candidate that I didn’t support.”

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Fox News Digital’s Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report.