Donald Trump, no stranger to trash talk, climbed into a garbage truck decked out with his campaign decals Wednesday, an apparent response to President Joe Biden appearing to call his supporters “garbage” earlier this week.
The day-before-Halloween cosplay took place during a campaign stop in Wisconsin. Trump departed his private plane in Green Bay and, donning a bright orange safety vest, shakily climbed into the sanitation vehicle, which was labelled with Trump’s “Make America Great Again!” slogan.
Speaking to press who had gathered at the photo op, Trump asked, “How do you like my garbage truck?” adding that it was “in honour of Kamala (Harris) and Joe Biden.”
He proceeded to say the president “should be ashamed of himself.”
In case you’re confused, Trump was reacting to Biden’s response to comedian Tony Hinchcliffe calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” at the former president’s Madison Square Garden rally over the weekend.
When addressing the racist joke Tuesday, Biden appeared to turn the insult back on Trump’s supporters, calling them “garbage” during a Zoom call with a Latino voters organization.
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter’s – his – his – his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American,” Biden said on the call, although the president later walked back the comment and clarified that he meant to target “the hateful rhetoric” against Latinos seen at Trump’s Sunday rally in New York City.
The White House, too, has attempted to clean up the mess, insisting Hinchcliffe was the sole target of Biden’s comments. They pointed to a transcription of the call, with showed Biden saying “supporter’s” – in singular – not “supporters.”
Harris also addressed the Biden comments on Wednesday, telling reporters, “I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for.”
“I believe that the work that I do is about representing all the people, whether they support me or not,” Harris said at a campaign stop at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. “And as president of the United States, I will be a president for all Americans, whether you vote for me or not.”
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As for Trump, he doubled down on the assertion that he did not know Hinchcliffe or how he got booked for Sunday’s rally.
“I don’t know anything about the comedian. I don’t know who he is. I’ve never seen him,” Trump said from the cab of the garbage truck. “He’s a comedian, what can I tell you? I know nothing about him. I don’t know why he’s there.”
Biden’s comment, regardless of intent, has given Republicans plenty of fodder for outrage and became a talking point that spilled over into Wednesday’s rally in Green Bay.
“I can assure you, we’re not garbage. How dare you say that,” said Brett Favre, the former quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, who appeared on stage in support of Trump.
“Looking out, I see police officers, teachers, nurses, grandparents, students. I see everyday Americans that make this country great.”
Trump, still wearing the high-vis safety vest, went on at length about his garbage truck stunt.
“One of my people came in and said, ‘Sir, you know the word ‘garbage’ is the hottest thing right now. Out there, the hottest thing out there. Sir, would you like to drive a garbage truck?” Trump said. “They pulled up this garbage truck. I don’t know how the hell they did it so fast. I have very capable people. They put a big sign on the truck. Did you see it?”
He also spoke about the garbage truck driver’s looks – “He looked like Cary Grant in his prime” – and shared that he was worried about his ability to climb up into the truck (at one point, he appeared to grab at, and miss, the door handle a couple of times).
“I said, ‘Man, if I don’t get up there, this is going to be very embarrassing.’ These stupid people, they’ll say he’s cognitively and physically impaired,” Trump told the Wisconsin crowd. “So the stair, the first stair’s like up here. I’m saying, sh-t – so I had the adrenaline going, and I made it.”
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