(OPINION) White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre faced immediate backlash Wednesday after she denied that President Biden had referred to Trump supporters as “garbage.”
During a virtual Harris campaign call with Voto Latino Tuesday night, Biden took a swipe at former President Trump’s rally in Madison Square Garden, which made headlines after insult comedian Tony Hinchiffe made jokes mocking different ethnic groups, with one joke referring to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.”
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden said on the call. “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and it is un-American.”
“Just to clarify, he was not calling Trump supporters garbage,” Jean-Pierre told reporters at the daily White House press briefing, reiterating the statement Biden put out to clean up his remarks.
REPORTER: Was Biden reading from a script when he called Trump supporters "garbage"? If so, why was that remark in there?
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: "It is not unusual for a president or the vice president or any elected official to have notes in front of them."
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 30, 2024
“He does not view Trump supporters or anybody who supports Trump as garbage,” she said, adding that Biden has said numerous times that he is a “president for all,” including those who did not vote for him in red states and blue states.
But commentators argued this may say more about Jean-Pierre’s estimation of the American public than Biden’s actual statement.
“Breaking wind from BSNBC!” former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee wrote. “5 Alarm fire at the WH when KJP’s pants catch fire in spontaneous combustion after she claims Joe didn’t really call Trump supporters ‘garbage.’
She does know that we can see the video for ourselves? That we aren’t as clueless as her boss is?” Tarrant County GOP chairman Bo French commented, “It amazes me more people aren’t appalled by the outright lies these people tell. We watched the video. He clearly called us garbage. I have a feeling the swing voters are done with this kind of BS.”
