US President Joe Biden was forced to clarify after apparently calling Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's supporters “trash.”

In a livestream Tuesday with advocacy group Voto Latino, Biden sought to denounce rhetoric at a recent Trump rally at Madison Square Garden that was criticized as racist and misogynistic.

“The other day at his rally, a speaker called Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage,” Biden said on the livestream, before calling Puerto Ricans “good, decent, honorable people.”

He then added: “The only trash I see floating out there is that of his supporters – his hatred – his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and un-American.”

The incident was immediately seized upon by leading Republicans, including Trump, who interpreted the statement as an insult to the average conservative voter.

Some drew parallels with Democrat Hillary Clinton, who called Trump's supporters “deplorable” during her run for president in 2016.

But Biden and his team have since issued statements seeking to clarify that his comments only referred to Madison Square Garden announcer, Trump supporter and comedian Tony Hinchcliffe.

Earlier today, I called the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico expressed by Trump supporters at his Madison Square Garden rally trash – that's the only word I can think of to describe it. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That's all I wanted to say. The…

– Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 30, 2024

The White House responds

White House spokesman Andrew Bates quickly dismissed the claim that Biden was referring to Trump supporters.

The Democratic president, Bates said, “called the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally trash” — not the voters.

In a transcript released by the White House, the word “supporter” was a singular possessive, seemingly in reference to Hinchcliffe, as opposed to the plural noun “supporter.”

Shortly afterwards, Biden also posted on the social media platform X to address the issue.

“Today I called the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico expressed by Trump supporters at his rally at Madison Square Garden trash — that’s the only word I can think of to describe it,” he wrote.

“His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That's all I wanted to say. The comments at this rally do not reflect who we are as a nation.”

For many Democrats, the scrutiny of Biden's remarks was another reflection of his tendency to distort his words or confuse information.

The 81-year-old's apparent frailty, which emerged during his June debate with Trump, was what prompted him to ultimately drop his bid for re-election. Even within his own party, critics questioned his continued ability to lead.

After Biden dropped out of the race in July, Vice President Kamala Harris immediately emerged as his successor, sparking a wave of enthusiasm.

She continued to defend Biden during her campaign, even saying on talk show The View, “She can't think of anything” she would have done differently than he did.

Still, political observers have noted that Biden was involved in only a handful of events organized by the Harris campaign. And Harris himself has often described himself as a “new generation of leadership.”

Biden's comments came the same evening that Harris gave a major speech in Washington, D.C., in which she tried to distinguish between her campaign and the divisions in Trump's campaign.

“This is disgusting”

Meanwhile, Republicans used Biden's comments in the crucial final week of the campaign as a line of attack against Democrats.

With the election just seven days away, Republicans have sought to distance Trump from Hinchcliffe's comments. Trump himself defended the rally as a “love festival.”

“President Trump is supported by Latinos, Black voters, union leaders, angel mothers, police officers, border patrol agents and Americans of all faiths – and Harris, Walz and Biden have called these great Americans fascists, Nazis and now, trash,” the Trump statement said. campaign in a statement.

“You can’t get it twisted: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris not only hate President Trump, they also despise the tens of millions of Americans who support him.”

Trump's Vice President JD Vance also criticized Biden's comments. “This is disgusting,” he said. “Kamala Harris and her boss Joe Biden are attacking half the country. There is no excuse for this. I hope the Americans reject it.”

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a Trump surrogate on the campaign trail, cited his Cuban-American heritage in his response.

“I hope your campaign will apologize soon for what Joe Biden just said. We are not trash. “We are patriots who love America,” he said at a rally in the Latino stronghold of Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Some Democrats also distanced themselves from Biden's words.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro told CNN he would “never insult the good people of Pennsylvania or any American, even if they chose to support a candidate I did not support.”

In 2016, Clinton called Trump supporters a “basket of deplorables.”

She later claimed she was generalizing, but among Trump supporters her words were seen as an attack on the working class.