Harris seeks to mitigate Biden’s ‘junk’ effects – DW – 10/30/2024

Kamala Harris told reporters Wednesday that she disagrees with “any criticism of people based on who they vote for,” trying to soften criticism of Joe Biden’s comments during a fundraising call the night before, less than a week before the vote.

“I will represent all Americans, including those who do not vote for me,” Harris said Wednesday.

Biden was responding to comments made at a Trump rally in which comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”

“The only garbage that’s out there is the garbage of his supporters – his supporters, his demonization of Latinos in a mindless and un-American way,” Biden said, according to a transcript posted online by a White House spokesman after a fundraising call with a Latino advocacy group Vote for Latino.

Several news organizations included comments without an apostrophe in the “supporters” column, making it appear that the reference was to all Trump supporters rather than Hinchcliffe, as the punctuation used by the White House suggested. Biden later said online that “I just wanted to say” that Hinchcliffe’s comments “do not reflect who we are as a nation.”

Nevertheless, the comments seemed to echo Hillary Clinton’s now-infamous reference to the “basket of regrets,” as she described about half of Trump’s supporters during the 2016 campaign. These comments are often highlighted as one of the low points of Clinton’s losing campaign against Trump.

Could a ‘trash’ gaffe and insult to Puerto Rico sway American voters?

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Harris’ colleague Tim Walz was also asked about Biden’s comments on “CBS Mornings” on Wednesday. Walz said the president “has been very clear that he’s talking about the rhetoric that we’ve heard.” As a result, he said, the remark did not undermine the Democratic Party’s campaign calling for unity.