Donald Trump exploits ‘garbage’ gaffe as Kamala Harris distances herself from Joe Biden

Donald Trump has donned a hi-vis vest and held a press conference from a garbage truck as he exploits Joe Biden’s rhetorical bungle, with Kamala Harris forced to mop-up after the President.

Donald Trump pulls up in a garbage truck at Austin Straubel International Airport in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Picture: X

Donald Trump donned an orange hi-vis vest and hosted a press conference from the front seat of a garbage truck before rallying in Green Bay, Wisconsin, as he capitalises on a damning rhetorical bungle from Joe Biden.

The stunt is an attempt to elevate Mr Biden’s gaffe in which he appeared to liken Trump supporters to garbage, with the former president telling reporters – as he leaned out the truck window – that Mr Biden’s damaging remark was “like deplorables for Hillary.”

“This is the deplorables for Hillary. I think this is worse actually,” he said on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT).

“For Joe Biden to make that statement, it’s really a disgrace.”

The truck was emblazoned with Mr Trump’s name and his ­signature political slogan, Make America Great Again, with the former president and Republican nominee continuing to wear the hi-vis vest when he took the stage a short time later – joking that it made him look thin and praising American sanitation workers.

Speaking from the truck, Mr Trump also addressed the controversy over his New York Madison Square Garden rally where a comedian likened Puerto Rico to a “floating pile of garbage”.

Mr Trump, 78, said he loved the island territory and that “nobody gets along better with Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rican people than me. They love me and I love them.”

On Wednesday morning, local time, Vice-President Kamala Harris distanced herself from Mr Biden’s “garbage” comment by saying she strongly disagreed with “any criticism of people based on who they vote for”.

The Democrat nominee made the comments on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews the morning after her address at the Ellipse in Washington, where she branded Mr Trump a “petty tyrant” and urged Americans to “turn the page” on an era of fear and division.

“Listen, I think, first of all, he (Mr Biden) clarified his comments, but let me be clear: I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for,” the 60-year-old said. “I believe that the work that I do is about representing all the people whether they support me or not.”

On a video call with Latino voters on Tuesday, Mr Biden was trying to respond to Mr Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally where comedian Tony Hinchcliffe had likened Puerto Rico to a pile of garbage.

But Mr Biden also appeared to take aim at Americans who were voting for Mr Trump, with the President declaring that “the only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters”.

White House spokesman Andrew Bates sought to clarify the President’s comments by saying that Mr Biden had “referred to the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as ‘garbage’”.

A transcript released by the White House also suggested the 81-year-old President, had said “the only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter’s” – with the inclusion of the apostrophe suggesting the comment was meant to reference Hinchcliffe’s demonisation of Latinos as being garbage.

Ms Harris’s running mate Tim Walz was also forced to clean-up after Mr Biden, telling Good Morning America that “the Vice- President and I have made it absolutely clear that we want everyone as a part of this. Donald Trump’s divisive rhetoric is what needs to end. He called (Puerto Rico) a garbage country and continues on from the enemy within,” the Minnesota Governor said.

Speaking in Green Bay in the key swing state of Wisconsin, Mr Trump told his supporters that he “wanted to thank all of our incredible sanitation workers all across America”.“They really do work hard and they do an incredible job and they don’t get the credit they deserve,” he said.