GREEN BAY, United States (AFP) — Donald Trump pulled an election stunt with a garbage truck Wednesday as the White House campaign was forced off-piste by muddled remarks from President Joe Biden about the Republican’s supporters that caused a headache for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
Harris found herself disavowing Biden’s remark that appeared to label Trump supporters “garbage.”
Trump — who, unlike Harris, has recently called his political opponents “garbage” in public — was on hand to exploit the misstep with a photo op, climbing into a garbage truck at an airport in Wisconsin and answering questions from reporters.
The row started over the weekend when a warm-up speaker at a Trump rally called the US territory of Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage,” in remarks that initially put the Republican campaign on the defensive.
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden said, before the White House sought to clarify that he was referring to Trump’s rhetoric, not to his supporters.
Harris was forced to fend off questions about the gaffe.
“Let me be clear, I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for,” said Harris, Biden’s vice president.