Biden's past comments about MAGA Republicans come back to haunt him as White House spins 'garbage' remarks
As White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre attempted to spin President Biden's remark calling Trump supporters "garbage," saying the "president for all" would never speak badly about people that support Trump, Biden's former comments about MAGA Republicans are coming back to haunt him.
During a press briefing on Wednesday, Jean-Pierre insisted that Biden was not calling Trump supporters garbage, but instead was calling comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s joke about Puerto Rico "garbage."
"He does not view Trump supporters or anybody who supports Trump as garbage. That is not what he views," the press secretary said of Biden.
"He has said multiple times that he is a president for all. It doesn't matter if you live in a red state, it doesn't matter if you live in a blue state. He has said it himself. I have said it on his behalf. He believes that he's a president for all. And it doesn't matter who you voted for, doesn't matter if you voted for him or not. He's a president for all. But hateful rhetoric, hateful rhetoric that he hears. And this is something that we've done many times from here. We will call that out. We will call that out."
WHITE HOUSE SEEKS TO PLAY CLEAN UP AFTER BIDEN CALLS TRUMP SUPPORTERS ‘GARBAGE’
During a virtual call with Voto Latino, Biden was asked about Trump's rally in Madison Square Garden, which made headlines after Hinchcliffe told a joke, referring to Puerto Rico as a "floating island of garbage."
He responded by saying, "Donald Trump has no character. He doesn't give a damn about the Latino community. He's a failed businessman. He only cares about the billionaire friends that he has and accumulating wealth for those at the top. He says immigrants are poisoning the blood of our country – give me a break. He wants to do away with the birthright citizenship. Who the hell has said that in the last hundred years? And just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage.' Well, let me tell you something. I don't -- I -- I don't know the Puerto Rican that -- that I know -- or a Puerto Rico, where I'm fr- -- in my home state of Delaware, they're good, decent, honorable people. The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters -- his -- his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it's un-American. It's totally contrary to everything we've done, everything we've been."
Now the White House is insisting that Biden would not speak badly about people that support Trump, but his past comments about MAGA Republicans seem to say otherwise.
On Sept. 5, 2022, Biden gave a Labor Day speech to workers in Milwaukee, where he went after MAGA Republicans and Trump supporters.
WHITE HOUSE DENIES THAT BIDEN REFERRED TO TRUMP SUPPORTERS AS ‘GARBAGE’
"Look, extreme MAGA Republicans don’t just threaten our personal rights and our economic security, they embrace political violence," Biden said before attempting to clear up that he was only talking about MAGA Republicans and not all Republicans. "The definition of democracy is you accept the will of the people when votes are honestly counted. These guys don’t do it."
He continued, referring to the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., and saying MAGA Republicans in Congress continue to defend the "mob" that stormed the building that day.
"This was an attack on American democracy," he said. "We have to be stronger and more determined and more committed to saving American democracy than the MAGA Republicans and that guy… who are destroying democracy, because democracy is at stake."
While speaking at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Forest Heights, Maryland, on Sept. 9, 2022, Biden sharpened his attacks against Trump and MAGA Republicans for posing a threat to democracy.
"Extreme MAGA Republicans just don’t threaten our personal and economic rights; they embrace political violence," the president said. "Think about it. They refuse to accept the will of the people. They threaten our very democracy. They – and that’s not hyperbole – to this day, they defend the mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6."
During an interview on Oct. 23, 2022, with MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart, Biden called out "mega MAGA" Republicans who "think it’s alright to threaten violence."
"I think we’re at one of those inflection points in history, where we’ve reached a point where there has been such a division that you have what I call the mega MAGA republicans, who think that it’s all right to threaten violence… think that’s not inappropriate, talk about how they are concerned about security but yet you saw what happened on Jan. 6, the whole world saw it."
He said the country had a leader who concluded the truth didn’t matter, then used the old modern version of "the old racist kind of baiting," seen 40 to 50 years ago, that Biden said, did not take it seriously.
Biden attended a campaign reception in Tempe, Arizona on Sept. 28, 2023, where again, he singled out MAGA supporters and accused them of posing a threat to democracy.
"Their extreme agenda, if carried out, would fundamentally alter the institutions of American democracy as we know it," Biden said of MAGA republicans. "My friends, they're not hiding their attacks; they're openly promoting them. Attacking the free press as the enemy of the people. Attacking the rule of law as an impediment. Fomenting voter suppression and election subversion.
"This MAGA threat is a threat to the brick and mortar of our democratic institutions," he later told attendees. "It's also a threat to the character of our nation that gives our Constitution life, that binds us together as Americans, a common cause. None of this is surprising, though. They've tried to govern that way before. Thank God they failed. But they haven't given up."
When asked about the contradictions between Jean-Pierre’s statements on Wednesday and remarks made by Biden in the past against MAGA Republicans, the White House referred Fox News Digital to a speech given by the president on Sept. 1, 2022.
"Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic," Biden said at the time.
"Now, I want to be very clear…very clear up front: Not every Republican, not even the majority of Republicans, are MAGA Republicans. Not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology.I know because I’ve been able to work with these mainstream Republicans," the president continued. "But there is no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven, and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans, and that is a threat to this country."