Donald Trump tore into President Biden Wednesday for calling the former president’s supporters “garbage” — saying it showed Democrats believe Republicans are “subhuman.”
“We know it’s what they believe, because look how they’ve treated you. They’ve treated you like garbage. Frankly, they’ve treated you like garbage. You know what the truth is? They treated our whole country like garbage,” Trump said at his rally in Rocky Mount, NC.
Trump, 78, lumped Vice President Kamala Harris in with Biden and argued that the commander in chief’s Tuesday night comment reflected her own views.
“My response to Joe and Kamala is very simple. You can’t lead America if you don’t love Americans,” he added, “and you can’t be president if you hate the American people, and there’s a lot of hatred. Kamala Harris is not fit to be president of the United States. She doesn’t have the intellect, the stamina, or that special quality that real leaders must have to lead.”
Trump went on, “Joe Biden’s comments were the direct result of Kamala [Harris] and Tim Walz, you know, you know that is his decision to portray everyone who isn’t voting for them as evil or subhuman.”
“You’re not subhuman. I’m looking at you. You are not subhuman.”
Biden, 81, made an appearance on a campaign call and insulted fans of the 45th president — just as Harris was making her much-hyped “closing argument” speech just a few hundred yards away at the Ellipse.
The president was protesting comic Tony Hinchcliffe’s Sunday night description of Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage” at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally — and decided to return the word on Republicans backing Trump.
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American,” Biden had said on the campaign call.
President Biden’s ‘garbage supporters’ comment isn’t the first time he’s attacked Donald Trump voters:
- “It’s not just Trump, it’s the entire philosophy that underpins the — I’m going to say something, it’s like semi-fascism.” — Joe Biden at DNC fundraiser in Bethesda, Md., on Aug. 25, 2022.
- “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.” — Biden at Independence Hall in Philadelphia on Sept. 1, 2022.
- “We are talking about mega MAGA Republican officials who have been very clear about this, who say, you know, they are pro-police, but then they are also pro-insurrectionists.” — Karine Jean-Pierre at press briefing on Nov. 2, 2022.
- “There is no question that today’s Republican Party is driven and intimidated by MAGA extremists. Their extreme agenda, if carried out, would fundamentally alter the institutions of American Democracy as we know it.” — Biden in Tempe, Ariz., on Sept. 28, 2023.
- “Those MAGA voices who know the truth about Trump and January 6th have abandoned the truth and abandoned our democracy.” — Biden in Blue Bell, Pa., on Jan. 5, 2024.
“They mean it,” Trump, 78, said, “even though, without question, my supporters are far higher quality than crooked Joe or lyin’ Kamala.”
The White House tried almost immediately to clean up Biden’s comment, claiming in their official transcript that Biden said “supporters’” with an apostrophe.
“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 wrote on X. “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 press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tried the same cover play at her Wednesday briefings, telling reporters: “Just to clarify: He was not calling Trump supporters ‘garbage.’”
