Joe Biden Denies Calling Trump Supporters “Garbage,” Says He Was Referring “To The Hateful Rhetoric About Puerto Rico”

Joe Biden is doing some damage control after his words condemning the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico at Donald Trump‘s Madison Square Garden rally were misinterpreted.

The President of the United States took to social media to clarify he didn’t call Trump supporters “garbage,” as many have interpreted.

“Earlier today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage—which is the only word I can think of to describe it,” Biden said in a post on X, the microblogging platform formerly known as Twitter.

He continued, “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.”

Following the fallout from Trump’s hateful rally at MSG, Biden took on a call by the Hispanic advocacy group Voto Latino. During the call, Biden commented on comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s disgraceful “joke” referring to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.”

“Just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage. Well, let me tell you something, I don’t, I don’t know the Puerto Rican that I know, the Puerto Rico where I’m … in my home state of Delaware. They’re good, decent honorable people,” he said.

Biden continued, “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”

The comment from Biden referring to Trump supporters as “garbage” was reminiscent of Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” dig from 2016 when she was running against Trump.

In recent rallies, Trump has repeatedly referred to America as “a garbage can.” In a Pennsylvania appearance on Tuesday, October 29, while delivering anti-immigration remarks, Trump claimed crime in Venezuela is down “because their criminals are taken into the United States of America, it’s like we’re a giant garbage can, that’s what they treat us like.”