Dressed as a sanitation worker and from the cab of a garbage truck, Donald Trump tried Wednesday to convince voters in the battleground state of Wisconsin that Democrats consider those who vote for him to be ” trash.”
These dramatic moves came in response to a verbal gaffe by Joe Biden the night before. Biden justified himself by saying his intention was to condemn a comedian for his racist remarks at a massive rally hosted by Trump at New York’s Madison Square Garden over the weekend.
Trump and his allies, however, took advantage of Biden’s remarks to assert that Democratic candidate Kamala Harris is not sincere in her promise to be a president for all Americans, even those who do not vote for her. During a visit to the city of Green Bay, located in a Republican-leaning region of a swing state where polls show everyone can win, Trump drove home the point by ditching his usual pantsuit and donning a reflective orange vest for giving a speech. in a stadium filled with his supporters in red caps.
“I have to start by saying that 250 million Americans are not trash,” Trump said at the start of his nearly 90-minute speech. He did not specify how he arrived at the 250 million figure, but it appears to be the entire U.S. population minus those who voted for Biden in 2020.
“This week, Kamala compared her political opponents to the most evil mass murderers in history, and now, speaking on a campaign call last night, dishonest Joe Biden finally said what he and Kamala really thought of our supporters. He called them trash. This simply cannot be the case.”
Biden’s gaffe, one of several he has made during his nearly four years in office, threatens to complicate Harris’ campaign, after her efforts to win over Latino voters were boosted by the comedian’s comment Tony Hinchcliffe at last Sunday’s rally at Madison Square Garden, where he said the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico is “a floating island of trash in the middle of the ocean.”
Puerto Rican stars Bad Bunny and Ricky Martin have since announced their support for Harris, and on Wednesday, reggaeton singer Nicky Jam, who also has ties to the island, cited those comments in withdrawing his support for Trump.
Biden, however, appeared to offer the Republican Party a new line of attack when he said during a Zoom call Tuesday evening with a Latino election organization: “The only garbage I see floating around is his supporters …their demonization. » Latinos by their supporters are unacceptable and un-American.
The president later clarified that his intention was to criticize “hateful rhetoric” against Latinos seen at Madison Square Garden, but the Trump campaign insisted Biden was disparaging people who voted for the former president.
Harris took a defensive role, telling reporters: “I totally disagree with any criticism of people based on their vote. » The vice president has recently prioritized moderate and independent Republicans and campaigned alongside Republicans who have broken with Trump.
But at the Green Bay rally, Trump’s second appearance of the day after a stop in North Carolina, Biden’s words were the only thing the mogul wanted to talk about.
“I can assure you that we are not trash. “How dare you say that?” said Brett Favre, the former quarterback of the NFL’s Green Bay Packers, who drew widespread applause during his appearance at the rally.
“As I look outside, I see police officers, teachers, nurses, grandparents, students. “I see ordinary Americans who make this country great.”
Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, who survived repeated efforts by Democrats to oust him and increase his numbers in the upper house of Congress, said: “He called you trash, but let’s face it, that’s not This isn’t your first time directing. Democrats tell half of Americans what they think of them. He compared it to Hillary Clinton’s quip shortly before her 2016 election defeat, when she claimed that half of Trump’s supporters were a “basket of deplorables.”
Despite condemning Biden for his trash comment at a North Carolina rally, Trump opted for something of a political stunt in Green Bay, getting off his private plane in the orange vest and jumping into the cabin of a garbage truck with the words. “Trump” written in blue letters on the side.
Later on stage, the 78-year-old said he was worried about climbing the steep steps to the truck and that if he fell he would be caught by all the “fake news” media that were waiting on the tarmac. “The first staircase is like here, and I’m like, damn,” he told the crowd.
“So I got my adrenaline pumping and I did it.”
But as he answered questions sitting in the cab of the truck, he refused to apologize for Hinchcliffe’s comments about Puerto Rico, instead repeating that he didn’t know who the comedian was or how he was hired at the Madison Square.
“I don’t know anything about the actor. I don’t know who it is. “I’ve never seen it,” Trump said. “He’s an actor, what can I tell you? I don’t know anything about him. “I don’t know why it’s there.”
Translation of Javier Biosca
