Biden's 'garbage' comment stirs debate ahead of 2024 election

Biden indeed used the word "garbage" during a meeting with voters on the Zoom platform.

They are good, decent, honorable people, Biden said, referring to Puerto Ricans. The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters, he added.

The president and the White House assert that when he said "garbage," he was referring to comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who, at one of Trump’s rallies, called Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage." It was intended as a condemnation of such "hateful rhetoric."

However, the president's words were quickly seized upon by Republicans, including Donald Trump himself. Trump addressed them during a speech in Pennsylvania, recalling Hillary Clinton's 2016 remarks when she referred to some Trump supporters as "deplorables."

Vice-presidential candidate J.D. Vance remarked that Biden "is attacking half the country." Senator Mike Lee from Utah questioned, "When President Biden called Trump supporters 'garbage,' did he mean older people like my parents? Or younger ones like my children, nieces, and nephews?"

Trump commented on the situation on his platform Truth Social, accusing Kamala Harris of running a "hate campaign."

She has spent all week comparing her political opponents to the most evil mass murderers in history. Now, on top of everything, Joe Biden calls our supporters "garbage," he wrote.

You can't lead America if you don't love American People, Trump added.