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Former President Donald Trump has distinguished himself as an entrepreneur, president, and McDonald’s fry cook. On Wednesday, he briefly added the role of garbage collector, in response to vitriolic comments from President Joe Biden calling Trump’s supporters “garbage” and apparently threatening to drown the 45th president.

President Biden’s Garbage Remark

During a Zoom call held the same time on Tuesday as Kamala Harris scheduled a pivotal campaign speech pitching herself as a unity candidate, Biden seemingly said the 74 million Americans who voted for the Republican presidential candidate in 2020 belong on the trash heap of history. “Donald Trump has no character. He doesn’t give a d*** about the Latino community. Just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage. The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American,” said Biden, 81.

President Biden also apparently threatened to drown former President Trump during a seaside speech in Baltimore announcing aid for numerous localities, including Puerto Rico. “I’d like to take that guy for a swim out there”, said Biden, indicating the ocean.

Last week, Biden told an audience in New Hampshire, “We got to lock him up”.

Trump’s Garbage Stunt

President Trump denounced the rhetoric and defended his supporters that evening. “Kamala and Joe call us all garbage”, Trump told his cheering followers. “I call you the heart and soul of America.”

“You can’t lead America if you don’t love Americans,” the 45th president added, targeting both Biden and incumbent Vice President Kamala Harris, who has likened the Trump movement to Nazis and fascists. Harris subsequently offered a half-hearted demurral, saying she would not echo Biden’s “criticism of people based on who they vote for.”

On Wednesday, President Trump dressed as a trash collector and spoke to reporters out of the window as he rode inside a garbage truck in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

“This truck is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden”, quipped Trump.

Political Coverup

Caught in a political storm, the Biden-Harris administration attempted to deny Biden had intended to denigrate half of all Americans. “Just to clarify, he was not calling Trump supporters garbage”, spun White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre. “That is why he wanted to make sure we put out a statement that clarified what he meant and what he was trying to say. And so, just wanted to make that very clear for folks who were watching.”

The official White House transcript of the comments initially recorded Biden smearing Trump’s “supporters” as “garbage”, but then added an apostrophe. The word “supporter’s,” which does not work grammatically nor in context, supposedly limited the insult to comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who made a joke about Puerto Rico at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally.

“Did Biden call Trump supporters ‘garbage’? It comes down to an apostrophe”, claimed a headline in The Washington Post, which recently endured resignations after it refused to formally endorse Kamala Harris for president.

Joe Biden’s social media account tried to deny the statement targeted half of the country, as well. “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 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”, said a statement posted in Biden’s name.

Coverup Backlash

But few bought the Democrat/legacy media explanation. “The tape seems to tell a different story, Mr. President,” replied David Closson, director of the Center for Biblical Worldview at Family Research Council. You can watch the video of President Biden’s comments in context here.

“The White House is trying to cover it up, trying to lie about what the president said”, Senator Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) told “Washington Watch” on Wednesday. “And the national media is trying to cover it up. They are complicit.”

“This just shows the hypocrisy of the Left and of the national news media”, said Ricketts. “Frankly, they’re desperate.”

“Sorry, Joe. That’s a bridge too far. It doesn’t even make sense”, agreed Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah). “Not one person believes that.”

CBS News anchor Norah O’Donnell admitted Biden’s gaffe but faulted Trump and his followers’ response. On Wednesday, President Trump “pulled this campaign stunt, speaking to reporters from a garbage truck — proof that he and his supporters are giving no grace to a gaffe by President Biden where he, in his explanation, inadvertently called Trump supporters ‘garbage.’ This, of course, was in response to that racist joke about floating garbage told at a Trump rally just last weekend”, O’Donnell told her viewers. “Vice President Harris is distancing herself from the negativity and trying to drive home her unifying message that if elected, she will represent all Americans.”

But on Tuesday, President Trump invoked the words of Jesus on the Cross, telling his followers, “Please forgive him, for he not knoweth what he said.”

A Divided Nation

Not everyone backed away from the president’s noxious rhetoric. “Garbage is an understatement for MAGA extremists”, said Democratic donor Vinold Khosla.

“One of Kamala Harris’s biggest donors is doubling down on calling half the country ‘garbage.’ Will Kamala and her campaign return his contributions? Or will they continue to insult half of the country for the sin of thinking Kamala Harris isn’t good at her job?”, asked J.D. Vance.

“We started out as deplorables under Clinton. We went to Nazis under Kamala. CNN calls us Nazis and fascists. And now we’re down to garbage”, Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas) told “Washington Watch” Wednesday. “They are descending into dystopia.”

Flanked by uniformed soldiers and standing in front of Constitution Hall bathed in black and red lights in September 2022, Joe Biden demeaned “MAGA Republicans” as a “threat to American democracy” and “a threat to this country”.

That echoed remarks candidate Hillary Clinton made at an “LGBT for Hillary” fundraiser in New York City in September 2016. “To just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? They’re racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic — you name it”, she said.

“They are irredeemable”, asserted Hillary Clinton. “But thankfully, they are not America.”

At the time, Clinton offered a non-apology that she overestimated the number of Trump supporters who are beyond redemption. “I regret saying ‘half’ — that was wrong”, said Clinton.

“While my opponent slanders you as deplorable and irredeemable, I call you hardworking American patriots who love your country”, responded then-candidate Trump.

Hillary Clinton doubled down on her comments this fall, saying her comments revealed “an important truth” about Trump supporters: “[I]f anything, ‘deplorable’ is too kind a word for the hate and violent extremism we’ve seen from some Trump supporters.”

“As a Christian, I aspire to this kind of radical empathy but often fall short. Talking about the ‘deplorables’ in 2016, I said, ‘Some of those folks, they are irredeemable.’ Part of me would still say this is objectively true”, wrote Clinton in her latest book, “Something Lost, Something Gained: Reflections on Life, Love, and Liberty.”

Conservative members of Congress said these comments shed light on the way the Left views America more broadly. “They don’t respect us [and] don’t want unity”, said Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.). “But we do. We want to Make America Great Again. Our coalition is for ALL AMERICANS. And in 7 days, we will UNITE AMERICA.” (Emphasis in original.)

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Originally published at The Washington Stand. Photo via YouTube/Sky News.