The backlash from President Joe Biden’s slamming of GOP rival Donald Trump’s supporters as “garbage” has ignited a political firestorm less than a week before Election Day, and New Hampshire Democrats are feeling the heat.
Appearing on a “get out the vote” Zoom call for Voto Latino, Biden responded to a comedian at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden said.
Biden later released a statement claiming he was only calling the comedian “garbage,” not all Trump supporters. But few political professionals found his denial credible.
“I think he meant ‘his supporters.’ With all due respect to my fellow Democrats, I do not think he was just talking about the comedian,” Democratic operative Dan Turrentine said on Mark Halperin’s 2Way TV Morning Meeting Wednesday.
“Let’s be clear, it is what almost every Democrat elected official actually believes,” Halperin added.
The comment was so controversial even Vice President Kamala Harris felt the need to distance herself. “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 told reporters Wednesday morning.
In New Hampshire, the state GOP called out Granite State Democrats.
“Biden calling Trump supporters trash. History doesn’t repeat, but it does rhyme. Will the New Hampshire Democratic Party jump to disavow this rhetoric like they did the (original) joke?”
And it’s true. On Monday, Democratic candidate for governor Joyce Craig posted:
“The vulgar rhetoric from Trump’s campaign attacking Puerto Rico is divisive and wrong. New Hampshire’s Puerto Rican community is a strong and vibrant part of our state. We should be celebrating all of our communities, not demonizing our neighbors and making them less safe.”
On Wednesday, she had no comment on Biden’s “garbage” insult.
The National Republican Congressional Committee also released a statement calling out local Democrats over their silence regarding Biden’s comment.
“Joe Biden said the quiet part out loud: Extreme Democrats like Maggie Goodlander and Chris Pappas think anyone who wants affordability, safe streets, and a secure border are ‘garbage,’” the NRCC said in a statement.
Both GOP congressional candidates condemned Biden’s language.
“The Democrats elites have shown disdain for Trump supporters since the beginning – Hillary Clinton called us ‘deplorable’ and now President Biden says we are ‘garbage,'” said Lily Tang Williams, running against Maggie Goodlander in NH-02. “There is nothing ‘deplorable’ or ‘garbage’ about wanting to protect the American Dream for future generations.
“I hope my opponent will condemn her former boss’s negative comments regarding tens of thousands of New Hampshire voters she is running to represent,” Williams said.
Russell Prescott, the Republican running against Pappas, said Biden’s behavior confirms the premise of his candidacy.
“Washington is broken, and this belief that a person or an idea is ‘trash’ does nothing to reduce inflation, lower mortgage rates, lower energy costs, or fix the crisis on our southern border. While Donald Trump has disavowed similar rhetoric, Democrats, including Kamala Harris and Chris Pappas, have said nothing because Pappas’ campaign is centered on similar mudslinging attacks. As a business owner, I will treat everyone with respect.”
State Rep. Joe Sweeney (R-Salem) used social media to respond.
“The President – Kamala’s boss – thinks you’re garbage. He thinks you’re garbage because you want secure borders. Because you want lower taxes. Because you want to fight inflation.
“That’s a load of trash – just like his presidency and campaign,” Sweeney wrote.
It was left to New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley to try and contain the mess.
Joe Biden’s record in New Hampshire is mixed at best. He tried to kill the state’s First in the Nation Democratic primary and refused to campaign here until after the nomination was secured.
During a visit to Concord last week, he created a headache for the Harris campaign when he told a group of state Democrats, “we gotta lock him up,” in reference to Donald Trump. Among the Democrats on hand was gubernatorial candidate Joyce Craig, who applauded Biden’s “lock him up” remark.
Smearing Trump voters is well-trod ground for Democrats. In 2016, Hillary Clinton infamously called them a “basket of deplorables” less than six weeks before she ultimately lost to Trump in what was a historic upset.=
Less than a week ago, Vice President Kamala Harris – who is the Democrat candidate running against Trump for the White House — called Trump a fascist during a CNN town hall event. Harris’s comments predictably prompted a flurry of headlines, which political pundits warned would put a bullseye on Trump voters by implying they are also fascists.
Manchester Alderman Joe Kelly Levasseur, who ran unsuccessfully for the GOP nomination in the First Congressional District on a pro-Trump platform, believes Biden’s comments were intentional — and intentionally provocative.
“He knew what he was doing. The Democrats are trying to incite MAGA into some or any sort of violence,” Levasseur posted. “It’s not going to work — We know they are just a bunch of idiots!”
