Less than a week after President Biden ignited a firestorm by referring to Trump supporters as human “garbage,” he once again used questionable language to attack Trump voters while speaking at a campaign event in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
“But I’m serious, these are the kinds of guys you’d like to smack in the a**,” Biden said of “MAGA Republicans.”
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The president’s comments went viral on social media, with one conservative pundit describing his contribution to the Harris-Walz Campaign as “the gift that keeps on giving.”
Biden immediately attempted to walk back his comments after he referred to tens of millions of Americans as “garbage” in an interview with CNN earlier this week.
“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,” Biden wrote in an X post as outrage over his statement mounted.
“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.”
The White House has attempted to claim that Biden was only referring to comedian Tony Hinchcliffe over his joke about Puerto Rico, going so far as to edit the official transcript to add in an apostrophe. The transcripts were edited despite objections from the White House stenographer’s office.
Several political analysts have conceded that President Biden’s comments overshadowed Kamala Harris’ “closing argument” rally in Washington D.C., where she portrayed herself as a “change” candidate who will cut down on division, but not before following Biden’s lead and labeling Trump as a “petty tyrant” and a “wannabe dictator.”
“Biden’s verbal gaffe (if that’s what it was) is an absolute nightmare for Harris campaign,” CNN’s Chris Cillizza wrote in an X post. “This is getting more attention than Harris’ closing argument speech.”
Inciting to, or threatening, violence, regardless who is doing it, is inappropriate, and, I believe, a violation of the posting guidelines. That the person occupying the Oval Office is the source of this makes it all the more egregious, particularly when connected to a political difference of opinions! Why was this even allowed to be printed?