'Belittles our country:' Harris on Trump calling US 'garbage can of the world'

WASHINGTON ― Vice President Kamala Harris slammed Republican nominee Donald Trump on Friday for calling the United States the “garbage can for the world,” accusing the former president of disparaging the American people.

“It’s just another example of how he really belittles our country,” Harris said to reporters in Houston, where she’s set to hold a campaign rally Friday night featuring music star Beyoncé.

“This is someone who is a former president of the United States, who has a bully pulpit. And this is how he uses it? To tell the world that somehow the United States of America is trash?"

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Trump debuted the phrase during a campaign rally Thursday night in Tempe, Arizona, as he railed on migrants who have entered the country at the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump has promised "mass deportations" of undocumented immigrants in a second presidency.

"When Kamala came in, she dismantled our border and threw open the gates to an invasion of criminal migrants from prisons and jails, from insane asylums and mental institutions, from all over the world," Trump said.

"We're a dumping ground,” Trump added. “We're like a garbage can for the world. That's what's happened. That's what's happened to our – we’re like a garbage can. You know, it’s the first time I’ve ever said that.”

Harris said a president “should be someone who elevates discourse and talks about the best of who we are and invests in who we are. Not someone like Donald Trump who’s constantly demeaning and belittling who the American people are. America deserves better."

Speaking at a campaign event Friday in Austin, Texas, Trump doubled down on the line as he blamed the Biden administration for migration at the border ― which has dropped in recent months after spiking earlier in the year.

"We're like a garbage can. We're like a garbage can. The first time I said it was last night," Trump said. "First time I ever said it. I don't know. It just came out - garbage can. We're like a garbage can for the rest of the world to dump the people that they don't want."

Reach Joey Garrison on X, formerly Twitter, @joeygarrison.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Harris assails Trump for calling US 'garbage can of the world'