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Former President Donald Trump‘s rally erupted Tuesday after news surfaced of President Joe Biden appearing to call Trump’s supporters as “garbage” in a call with Latino voters.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio took the podium at Trump’s rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania and told the crowd he had “breaking news” for them.
“Just moments ago, Joe Biden stated that our supporters are garbage,” Rubio said, as the crowd started booing and jeering.
The Florida Republican was referring to comments that President Joe Biden made earlier in the day during a Zoom call with the organization Voto Latino.
Biden referenced Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden in the call, specifically the comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s description of Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.”
AP/Matt Rourke
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American,” Biden said on the call, according to a clip aired on CNN.
“He’s talking about the Border Patrol, he’s talking about nurses, he’s talking about teachers, he’s talking about everyday Americans who love their country and want to dream big again and support you, Mr. President,” Rubio said in response to Biden’s comments. “And I hope their campaign is about to apologize for what Joe Biden just said. We are not garbage, we are patriots who love America. Thank you for running, Mr. President.”
Trump went back to the podium as the crowd started cheering and applauding for him.
“Wow,” Trump said. “That’s terrible. That’s what it says. That’s what it says.”
He then drew a parallel back to when then Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton described Trump supporters as “deplorable” during the 2016 election, a move she was widely criticized for.
“You have, remember Hillary, she said deplorable, and then she said irredeemable, right?” Trump said. “But she said deplorable, and that didn’t work out. Garbage, I think, is worse, right? But he doesn’t know, you have to please forgive him. Please forgive him, for he not knoweth what he said.”
The White House released a statement Tuesday evening seeking to clarify Biden’s comments.
“The President referred to the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as garbage,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said.
He also provided a White House transcript of the call, which quoted Biden as saying that Puerto Ricans “in my home state of Delaware, they’re good, decent, honorable people. The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter’s — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”
Biden also posted a response from his official account on X, formerly Twitter.
“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,” the post said. “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.”