US election: Trump and Harris' teams react to Biden's blunder
ITV News Correspondent Robert Moore reflects on Biden appearing to call Trump supporters "garbage" - a twist overshadowing Harris' last US election pitch
Vice President Kamala Harris has rallied her supporters outside the White House and promised to be a leader for all Americans, not just for her tribe.
That was the explicit promise in her campaign's closing speech which was given in front of 50,000 emotional supporters and with the White House as the backdrop.
The location was carefully chosen. The lawn adjacent to the National Mall was the exact same spot from where Donald Trump delivered his infamous speech on January 6 2021, when he contested the election result and ordered his followers to "fight like hell." They went on to storm the Capitol.
So Harris' team was using the visual stagecraft to provide the starkest of contrasts: her message of unity pitched against the man she calls a "petty dictator" and an agent of chaos.
But at the very moment she was trying to reach moderate Republicans, Joe Biden was undermining her central message, infuriating Team Harris.
Uninvited to his own vice president's speech - even as the event took place in his own backyard - Biden appeared to call Trump supporters "garbage."
Well, that's what his opponents are claiming. The White House says he wasn't referring to all of Trump's supporters, only to the comedian who described Puerto Rico as "garbage."
Perhaps in this hyper-partisan environment, it no longer matters what he meant or exactly who he was referring to.
Trump supporters are outraged - and conservative media outlets are declaring that Democrats hold half the country in contempt.
It's a twist that Harris will view with horror. Her last major pitch as a unifying figure, overshadowed by a fumbling president.
We now enter the final days of the campaign with the polls tied, with controversies raging across the political divide, and with growing concerns that this election campaign has deepened the great American schism.
Meanwhile, ITV News' US Correspondent Dan Rivers and Washington News Editor Jonathan Wald are in Wisconsin and have been following the Trump campaign's reaction
After the widespread criticism of Donald Trump’s New York rally, in which racist jokes and personal insults were peppered through the warm up speeches, it appeared to hand a political advantage to Kamala Harris.
The jibe about Puerto Rico made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, describing it as a "floating island of garbage" could well alienate those of Puerto Rican heritage.
There are about half a million in that critical state alone and in an election of wafer-thin margins, it could make a difference.
But then last night President Joe Biden waded into the row. During a video call, he said: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters’ - his, his demonisation of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.”
Despite initially putting out a transcript with an apostrophe (as above) suggesting a plural possessive, the White House later corrected it, to change it to “supporter’s” - flipping the meaning to a singular possessive.
It altered the thrust of the sentence to suggest he was talking about a single supporter’s garbage - ie Hinchcliffe’s. But the tweak did little to limit the damage.
The Trump campaign seized on the moment to claim “Kamala Harris’ governing partner just insulted tens of millions of Americans. Will Kamala apologise and disavow Joe Biden’s remarks?”
Trump’s running mate JD Vance said: “Kamala Harris and her boss Joe Biden are attacking half the country. There’s no excuse for this. I hope American’s reject it.”
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Florida Senator Marco Rubio, speaking on a stage next to Donald Trump, pushed it further saying: “He’s talking about the Border patrol, he’s talking about nurses. He’s talking about teachers. He’s talking about every day Americans who love their country and want to dream big again and support you, Mr President.”
Trump responded by simply saying “Wow that’s terrible.”
Biden then issued message on the social media platform X, trying to clarify what he said: “Earlier today 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. His demonisation of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say. The comments at the rally don’t reflect who we are as a nation.”
Kamala Harris addressed the row today, distancing herself from Biden’s comments, saying: “I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for.” Suffice to say this is not the message she was hoping to deliver this close to the election.
The gaff is reminiscent of Hilary Clinton’s description of Trump supporters as a “basket of deplorables” in 2016, which was widely seen as a political own goal, insulting a huge section of American society.
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