Kamala Harris distances herself from Joe Biden after ‘garbage’ gaffe

Washington: Vice President Kamala Harris has distanced herself from Joe Biden after the president appeared to refer to Trump supporters as “garbage”, in a damaging gaffe that has undercut her message of unity.

With less than a week before election day, Biden made the blunder during a video call with a Latino advocacy group, just as 75,000 spectators had gathered in Washington to hear Harris’ “closing argument”, which urged voters to “turn the page” on the nation’s divisions.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in the White House in September for an event on gun violence.Credit: AP

Speaking in response to a controversial joke made at a Trump rally on Sunday about “Puerto Rico being an island of garbage”, Biden told the Zoom call on Tuesday: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonisation of Latinos is unconscionable and it’s un-American.”

While Biden and the White House quickly moved to clarify the comment – insisting that the president was talking about comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who made the joke, and not Trump’s supporters more broadly – the Harris campaign spent much of the morning in damage control.

Asked about her boss’s comments en route to campaigning in North Carolina on Wednesday, Harris told reporters: “First of all, he clarified his comments. But let me be clear: I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for.”

Harris speaks during a campaign rally on the Ellipse in Washington, DC, this week.Credit: Getty Images

“You heard my speech last night and continuously throughout my career. I believe that the work that I do is about representing all the people, whether they support me or not, and as president of the United States, I will be a president for all Americans, whether you vote for me or not.”

Biden’s ill-timed remark – which Republicans likened to Hillary Clinton’s insult about Trump supporters being “a basket of deplorables” – gave the Trump campaign an opening to pivot from its own backlash over the racist and sexist jokes made at the former president’s Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday night.

But the blunder also underscores a deepening tension between the vice president and the president’s office. While Biden has offered to campaign for Harris, her team has been resistant as it presents a challenge for the Democratic nominee, who is pitching herself as “a new way forward”.

The 81-year-old president has long had a tendency to misspeak and Democratic strategists know that this could be risky at such a critical juncture, given how close the race is. Last night’s comments reinforced this risk.

“Joe Biden finally said what he and Kamala really think of our supporters. He called them garbage – and they mean it,” Trump said at a rally in North Carolina on Wednesday. “Even though, without question, my supporters are far higher quality than Crooked Joe and Lyin’ Kamala.”

The gaffe consumed the morning news in the US, sucking oxygen from Harris’ speech, which she delivered on Tuesday night at the same place where Trump had revved up his fans before the attack on the Capitol building on January 6, 2021.

Asked about the incident during an appearance on Good Morning America, Harris’ running mate Tim Walz said: “The vice president and I have made it absolutely clear that we want everyone part of this.”

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who is a campaign surrogate for Harris, told CNN that while Biden’s words were not “what I would choose, I think it’s important that we remain focused on the contrast between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump and not attacking supporters of either candidate”.

The White House tried to clarify the comments by issuing a transcript seeking to put them in a broader context, insisting that he had said “supporter’s” – to refer to the comedian’s quote – and not “supporters”.

Joe Biden on the campaign trail in Baltimore earlier this week.Credit: AP

Biden also put out a clarification on social media saying his comments simply referred to “the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter”.

The latest comment is not the first time Biden has made a verbal blunder, which is something that Trump, who is 78 and now the oldest person to run for office, is also prone to. For instance, the Republican has confused Biden with Barack Obama, referred to Nikki Haley when meant Nancy Pelosi, and regularly goes on meandering rants at his rallies.

Nonetheless, the Trump campaign is expected to capitalise on comments in the final days of the campaign to attack Harris and try to energise more people to vote for the Republican.

Trump was on stage at a rally in Pennsylvania – a critical swing state with high numbers of Puerto Ricans – on Tuesday when Florida Senator Marco Rubio presented him with the news in real time.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump dances at a campaign rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania.Credit: AP

“I have breaking news, Mr President: just moments ago, Joe Biden stated that our supporters are garbage,” Rubio said as he took the podium.

As the crowd booed at the news, Trump shook his head in disapproval.

“Wow. That’s terrible,” he said when he returned to the microphone, reminding supporters of Clinton’s “deplorable” comments, then adding: “ ‘Garbage’, I think, is worse.

“While I am running a campaign of positive solutions to save America, Kamala Harris is running a campaign of hate,” Trump said later in a post.

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