Biden says ‘only garbage I see floating’ is Trump supporters

On By Littum

President Biden raged at “Kill Tony” podcast host Tony Hinchcliffe’s joke that Puerto Rico is a “floating island of trash” and suggested it was a good description for supporters of former President Donald Trump.

“Donald Trump has no character. He doesn’t care about the Latino community,” Biden said during a campaign call at the White House on Tuesday first reported by NBC. “Just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage.”

“The only trash I see floating out there are his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and it’s un-American.”

“The only trash I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden said. AP

Biden further emphasized that Puerto Ricans are “good decent, honorable people.”

A White House spokesman later claimed he was clarifying that Biden, 81, was specifically referring to Hinchcliffe, 40.

Trump had distanced himself from Hinchcliffe, who drew widespread, bipartisan backlash for his line on Puerto Rico during his opening at the Madison Square Garden Trump rally on Sunday.

Hinchcliffe, who drew widespread, bipartisan backlash for his line on Puerto Rico during his opening at the Madison Square Garden Trump rally on Sunday. AP

Republican vice presidential hopeful JD Vance quickly hit back at Biden.

“This is disgusting. Kamala Harris and her boss Joe Biden are attacking half the country. There is no excuse for this. I hope Americans reject it,” he wrote on X.

“I don’t know him, somebody put him up there,” Trump, 78, later told reporters about the attack in Puerto Rico, and his campaign previously said the joke did not represent its views or those of the former president.

Trump has distanced himself from Hinchcliffe. AFP via Getty Images

Hinchcliffe has since defended his controversial remark, insisting it was a joke.

“These people have no sense of humor,” he wrote on X in the middle of the fight. “I love Puerto Rico and vacation there.”

Trump held a campaign rally in Allentown, Pa., on Tuesday, which is home to more than 34,000 Puerto Ricans. During this convention, he was endorsed by Puerto Rico’s Shadow US Sen. Zoraida Buxó. As a shadow senator, Buxó lacks the right to vote in the upper chamber.

Late. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who met with Trump in Allentown, blasted Biden’s attack.

“He’s talking about ordinary Americans who love their country and want to dream big again and support you, Mr. President,” Rubio said. “And I hope (the Harris campaign) is about to apologize for what Joe Biden just said.”

“We’re not trash. We’re patriots. We love America. Thanks for running.”

Trump simply replied: “Wow. That’s terrible.”

His campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt also ripped into Biden’s attack.

“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris hate America and do not deserve four more years. Kamala must be held accountable for this disgraceful attack on tens of thousands of Americans.”

Biden, who has been overshadowed by the 2024 campaign battle between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, fired up the former president’s backers last week with an argument about putting him in jail.

“If I said this five years ago, you would lock me up: We need to lock him up,” Biden said during a campaign stop in New Hampshire last week.

Several seconds later, Biden shot back: “Politically, lock him in — lock him out, that’s what we’re going to do.”