On Wednesday, Donald Trump deemed his Madison Square Garden rally where a speaker denigrated Puerto Rico as “garbage” to be a “lovefest.” But now Trump and the Republican Party are pretending to be offended by the word “garbage” when President Joe Biden said it, and worse, they are taking Biden’s words out of context.
In a Tuesday video call with the group Voto Latino, Biden said, “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter’s—his—his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American,” clearly saying that the “garbage” here is the pro-Trump speaker’s “demonization of Latinos.”
But because Biden stuttered in the middle of his statement, Trump and company have seized on this to falsely allege that he was speaking about individuals, not the hate that was on display at the Trump rally.
“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 tweet after.
But at a rally in Pennsylvania on Wednesday night, Sen. Marco Rubio lied and said, “Just moments ago, Joe Biden stated that our supporters are garbage.”
Trump mockingly added, “Please forgive him for he not knoweth what he said.”
Trump followed up with a post on his Truth Social platform where he ridiculously claimed he was “running a campaign of positive solutions to save America.” In reality, Trump has said he plans mass deportation and has praised the disastrous Supreme Court decision that rescinded federal abortion rights.
“Now, on top of everything, Joe Biden calls our supporters ‘garbage.’ You can’t lead America if you don’t love the American People,” he added, despite having repeatedly said that people who are opposed to his campaign are the “enemy within” and called for military force to be used against them.
Trump’s mock-offense at the term “garbage” comes just days after he referred to the entire United States as a “garbage can for the world,” amid an attack on the notion of migrants from other countries moving here.
His running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, falsely stated that the “garbage” comment from Biden was an attack on “half the country.” But it was Vance himself who played down the MSG “joke” attacking Puerto Rico when he argued that “we have to stop getting so offended at every little thing in the United States of America.”
The mainstream press is giving cover to the Republican attack as well.
Politico reporter Rachael Bade tweeted, “Biden campaign on clean up duty,” despite the fact that Biden is not running for president and does not have a campaign. She added, “Regardless of what he meant, [Republicans] are already using this as a way to pivot from the Puerto Rico controversy.”
But what Biden actually said matters, no matter how Republicans try to characterize it.
The Associated Press similarly regurgitated the Republican spin, with a story headlined, “Biden suggests Trump supporters are ‘garbage’ after comic’s insult of Puerto Rico.”
Highlighting the poor job being done by the mainstream press, their coverage is similar to the pro-Trump Fox News. Fox was mad that the Trump rally was being covered accurately and is now pushing the false version of what Biden said, with a story misleadingly headlined, “Kamala Harris silent after Biden's 'garbage' comment about Trump supporters.”
Trump began his political career with racism, and in the closing argument of the 2024 campaign, little has changed on that front. Faced with backlash and condemnation for the MSG event, he and his campaign are grasping at straws and twisting Biden’s words, and mainstream outlets are giving him an assist.
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