Opinion: Biden calls Trump supporters 'garbage.' It fits mold of Dems insulting opponents.

Less than a week until the presidential election, we’ve definitely reached a desperate stage of the campaign season with Republicans and Democrats smearing their opponents with ugly accusations and insults.

The latest? Both sides are slinging the word “garbage.”

Vice President Kamala Harris had hoped Tuesday night would be all about her big campaign speech where she gave her closing arguments at a site near the White House.

Instead, President Joe Biden ended up stealing the headlines with a comment he made to supporters on a video conference call.

Biden was responding to a comedian's horrible "joke" at former President Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday. Insult comic Tony Hinchcliffe directed a seriously awful comment about Puerto Rico, calling it a “floating island of garbage.”

Obviously, outrage ensued, and Democrats have kept the comment alive in the news since.

So Biden thought he’d “help” Harris by hopping on a call with a progressive Latino group.

On that call, Biden is heard saying: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters ? his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.”

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Intentional or not, Biden said what he did

The White House and Democrats’ surrogates in the media immediately tried to do damage control, once Biden’s comments hit social media.

They attempted to argue that Biden meant to say “supporter’s” (singular) in reference to the comedian's untoward joke.

But … that’s not how it sounded to everyone who watched Biden saying these words.

Biden and his team should have been savvy enough to know that stringing “supporters” and “garbage” together when talking about Trump could lead to problems. Apostrophes are not visible to listeners.

Whether he meant to or not, the president poured gasoline on the fire that had already been burning since the weekend – and gave plenty of justifiable ammunition to Republicans.

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The comedian’s “joke” was in horrible taste (even though Hinchcliffe insults everyone – that’s what he does for a living, as Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show" has noted), but denigrating the roughly 75 million Americans who have voted and who will vote for Trump in this election is also horrible.

In fact, it’s fair to say what Biden – the president of the United States – says about tens of millions of Americans is a lot worse than what one comic says at a rally.

This incident also falls into a broader pattern of Democrats insulting political opponents and their supporters, especially ahead of elections.

Biden’s “garbage” comment must be taken in the context of what he has said about Trump and his MAGA base. In 2022, for instance, Biden called Trump supporters proponents of “semi-fascism.” In recent days, Harris also has harnessed the “fascist” term to slam her opponent – and by association, his supporters.

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And recall 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s infamous “basket of deplorables” comment when referring to many of Trump's supporters. A lot of Americans didn’t appreciate being labeled “racist” and “sexist” simply because they didn’t agree with Clinton’s policies or trust her.

Former President Barack Obama similarly angered a lot of voters in 2008 with his comment about "bitter" working-class Americans in the Midwest clinging to “guns or religion.”

Biden's comment reminds us he has no business being president

The most convincing defense of Biden, but which I don't really buy, is that he accidentally mangled his speech. That points to even more serious issues.

The incident reminds us that Biden – who will be president for nearly three more months – is not up to the job.

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And it reminds the American people of how Harris and other Democrats purposefully misled the country as to Biden’s true condition for months, if not years. This gaslighting prevented a real Democratic presidential primary and resulted in Harris replacing Biden on the ticket – even though no one had voted for her.

At her speech Tuesday, Harris said: “America for too long, we have been consumed with too much division, chaos and mutual distrust. It can be easy then, to forget a simple truth ? it doesn’t have to be this way.”

Given both Biden’s comments and Harris' in recent days ? as well as her deception about Biden's health ? it’s really hard to take her at her word.

Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at [email protected] or on X, formerly Twitter: @Ingrid_Jacques

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Opinion: Biden calls Trump voters 'garbage.' Why am I not surprised?