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Down-ballot Republicans use Biden’s ‘garbage’ comment to help close gap in final days

Down-ballot Republicans use Biden’s ‘garbage’ comment to help close gap in final days

Republicans are in a tough fight for the Senate less than a week before Election Day, are lashing out at President Biden, calling former President Trump’s supporters “trash” in a last-ditch effort to rally support for the anti-GOP vote.

Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania released a campaign ad on Wednesday that featured video footage of Biden speaking, followed by footage of his incumbent rival, Sen. Bob Casey, praising Biden.

“Donald Trump has no character. He doesn’t care about the Hispanic community,” Biden said during a campaign phone call from the White House on Tuesday. “Just the other day, the speaker was at his rally called Puerto Rico floating garbage island.

“The only garbage I see there are his supporters. His demonization of Hispanics is unconscionable and un-American.”

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Dave McCormick smiles

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania greets supporters at the Hotel Indigo during a campaign event on the night of the primary election, May 17, 2022, in Pittsburgh. (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)

McCormick’s ad featured Biden’s remarks and a video of Casey praising Biden as a man of unprecedented “decency.”

“Clean up their mess on November 5. Vote Republican. Vote for Dave McCormick,” says a voice-over in the ad.

Biden’s comments caused a lightning storm criticism from Republicans across the countrywith some comparing it to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” comment at a fundraiser during her failed 2016 campaign, which was seen as likely to undermine her campaign.

“We are not garbage. We are patriots who love America,” Sen. Marco Rubio said at a Trump rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday.

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The White House tried to retract Biden’s comment, saying it was referring specifically to remarks made by Trump during a rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night. Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, host of the popular podcast Kill Tony, sparked backlash after he joked hours before Trump took the stage at Madison Square Garden that Puerto Rico was a “floating island of trash.”

The White House tried to return to the president’s comments Tuesday night. Administration spokesman Andrew Bates said Fox News’ Jackie Heinrich Biden “called the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally ‘garbage.’

Biden added in a further clarification on X that he was referring to the comedian’s rhetoric, not Trump supporters in general.

Biden is next to Shapiro from 2023

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro watches President Biden speak after a briefing on Interstate 95 emergency repair and reconstruction in Philadelphia on June 17, 2023. (Julia Nihinson/AFP via Getty Images)

“Today I mentioned hate speech about Puerto Rico trashed by Trump supporters at his Madison Square Garden rally is the only word I can think of to describe it,” Biden wrote in a post on X. “His demonization of Hispanics is unconscionable. That’s all I wanted to say. The comments at that rally do not reflect who we are as a nation.”

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“Senator Casey respects all Pennsylvanians, regardless of how they vote,” Casey campaign spokeswoman Maddie McDaniel told Fox News Digital when reached for comment on McCormick’s ad.

Bob Casey, Dave McCormick

McCormick believes Pennsylvania voters are aware of the importance of the 2024 election. (Reuters and Associated Press)

National Republican The Senate committee also resolved to Biden’s comments, pointing to four Democrats in tight races against Republican challengers — Montana Sen. Jon Tester, Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown and Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallegowho is running for Senate in Arizona — for previous negative comments about Trump supporters.

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NRSC compared Biden’s words to Baldwin’s in 2016 that Republicans failed the “moral test” for supporting Trump and Gallego, who claimed in 2016 that Trump’s campaign “has attracted the attention of the worst people in the world.”

trump

Former President Trump on Fox News hosts Sean Hannity’s show on Tuesday, October 29, 2024. (Fox News)

“These Democrats have spent years criticizing Donald Trump and his supporters as deplorable and racist, even calling them ‘the worst people in the world.’ Now that they’re shamelessly pandering to Trump supporters, voters need to know whether they will condemn Joe Biden’s disgusting remarks or fall in line again,” said NRSC spokesman Philip Letsu, commenting on the four Democrats.

Trump’s campaign also condemned the remarks, saying that Biden and Vice President Harris not only “hate President Trump” but also “contempt” his millions of supporters.

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“President Trump is supported by Latin AmericansBlack voters, union workers, angel moms, law enforcement officers, border patrol agents, and Americans of all faiths, along with Harris, Waltz, and Biden, have called these great Americans fascists, Nazis, and now trash. There is no way to put it into words: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris don’t just hate President Trump, they despise the tens of millions of Americans who support him. Kamala does not deserve four years. President Trump will be the president for ALL Americans,” said Caroline Leavitt, national spokeswoman for the Trump campaign.

Dave McCormick shakes hands with Donald Trump at a rally

Former President Trump, Republican presidential candidate, and Dave McCormick, Republican U.S. Senate candidate from Pennsylvania, shake hands during a campaign rally in Reading, Pennsylvania, ca. 9, 2024. (REUTERS/Jeenah Moon)

McCormick joined “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday, where he condemned Biden’s rhetoric and demanded an apology.

“Anytime you call half of Americans trash because half of the population supports President Trump, I think that’s the kind of divisive rhetoric that we need to get out of politics. I think it’s terribly polarizing. And so it’s not just President Biden, Kamala Harris, and Bob Casey who have hurt more than half of Americans with skyrocketing fentanyl prices. Now they’re disrespecting him, so I hope the president apologizes for that,” McCormick said during an interview with Fox News from a restaurant in Gap, Pennsylvania, Wednesday.

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“I think it shows how they really feel about the people who support President Trump,” he said.

Harris also distanced herself from Biden’s remarks on Wednesday, saying her latest speech to voters in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday reflected that she would lead all Americans if elected, regardless of their political party.

“I think, 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,” Harris said.

“You heard my speech last night and throughout my career,” Harris said. “I believe that the job that I do is to represent all the people, whether they support me or not, and as president of the United States I will be the president of all Americans, regardless of whether you vote for me or not.”

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