Biden Miffs GOP For Puerto Rico Slur By Calling Trump Backer "Garbage"

Joe Biden denounced offensive jokes that podcast host Tony Hinchcliffe made about Puerto Rico during Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally over the weekend.

Biden added that the only “garbage” he saw “floating out there” were supporters, though it was unclear if he was referring solely to Hinchcliffe or to all of Trump’s fans. I Photo: The White House Facebook

However, the president also made a comment that some prominent Republicans quickly deemed insulting to the former president's supporters, as Karissa Waddick reported for USA Today.

“Just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage,’” Biden said during a Zoom call with Voto Latino, an organization encouraging Latino and Hispanic youth to become politically engaged.

The president noted that the Puerto Rican people he knew in his home state of Delaware were “good, decent, honorable people.”

Biden added that the only “garbage” he saw “floating out there” were supporters, though it was unclear if he was referring solely to Hinchcliffe or to all of Trump’s fans, as Rebecca Morin and David Jackson also reported for USA Today.

The White House released a transcript Tuesday night attempting to clarify that the president was referring specifically to Hinchcliffe's remarks.

Biden’s comment was swiftly rebuked by Republican lawmakers. In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, later in the evening, Biden clarified that he was referring to "the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump's supporter," Hinchcliffe.

"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."

White House Senior Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates reiterated that Biden was referring to the “hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally” as "garbage" and posted a transcript of Biden’s comments on X.