Biden targeted by GOP resolution condemning 'garbage' remark about Trump supporters
FIRST ON FOX: President Biden is getting hit with a resolution in Congress condemning his "garbage" remarks while discussing former President Donald Trump’s supporters earlier this week.
"President Biden must be condemned for calling millions of Americans who support Donald Trump garbage," Rep. John Rose, R-Tenn., who is introducing the measure later this week, told Fox News Digital.
He linked it to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s infamous quip that half of Trump supporters were a "basket of deplorables" during her doomed 2016 presidential bid.
"First, Democrats called half the country deplorables. Now, they are doubling down, calling us garbage. Democrats’ disrespect for half the country’s views and opinions is exactly what is wrong with the leadership of extreme far-left liberals," Rose said.
Republicans have been hammering Biden – and by extension 2024 Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris – over the remarks, even forcing top Democrats to distance themselves from the controversial comment.
The White House has denied that the president called Trump supporters "garbage," and interpretations of what the 81-year-old leader said have been hotly debated.
Biden was asked about Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden during a virtual call with Voto Latino. Democrats had accused Republicans of racist rhetoric during the event, particularly one of comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s jokes referring to Puerto Rico as a "floating island of garbage."
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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."
"And just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage.' Well, let me tell you something…in my home state of Delaware, they're good, decent, honorable people. The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters – his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it's un-American. It's totally contrary to everything we've done, everything we've been," Biden said.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre insisted Wednesday that he was referring to Hinchcliffe’s joke.
"He does not view Trump supporters or anybody who supports Trump as garbage. That is not what he views," she said.
Biden himself posted a similar explanation on X earlier this week.
"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 post said.
However, that has done little to stem the Republican backlash, particularly with Election Day less than a week away.
Trump arrived at his Wednesday campaign stop in Wisconsin in a garbage truck and wore a high-visibility vest throughout his rally.
Vivek Ramaswamy, one of his surrogates, posted a video of himself on the job with sanitation workers.
Harris distanced herself from the comments Wednesday morning, telling reporters, "I think that, first of all, he clarified his comments. But let me be clear, I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for."
Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., who is running in one of the most closely watched Senate races in the country, went even further.
"In terms of what President Biden said yesterday, he shouldn’t have said it. I mean, it’s inappropriate. And, for me, I just think that kind of talk is the last thing we need in our politics," Slotkin told Michigan radio station WWJ Newsradio.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on Rose’s resolution.