FLASHBACK: Biden called Trump supporters ‘garbage’ and legacy press shrugged
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough attempted to dismiss the comments from Biden at the time.
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough attempted to dismiss the comments from Biden at the time.

Last year during the lead up to the 2024 election, former President Joe Biden said that Trump supporters were "garbage" while he was making comments in relation to a rally at Madison Square Garden. The clip has resurfaced as the legacy media, some of which shrugged at the time of Biden's comments, have been quick to jump at President Donald Trump's comments in the Oval Office that referred to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) as well as Somalis in Minnesota "garbage" after many in the community were linked to welfare fraud.
In the clip, while speaking about how comedian Tony Hinchcliffe made a joke about Puerto Rico, calling it a "floating island of garbage" during a Trump rally, Biden then said, “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters."
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View on XThe White House attempted to walk back the comment and was helped by legacy media which ran headlines that suggested Biden meant something else when he referred to Trump supporters as "garbage." The BBC at the time read the headline at the time "Biden tries to clarify 'garbage' comment after uproar" and said that Biden only "appeared" to call Trump supporters garbage when he clearly did so.
MSNBC's Joe Scarborough attempted to dismiss the comments from Biden and said that it was only a "misstatement" from Biden at the time.
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View on XThe New York Times said that Biden "appeared" to insult Trump supporters and said that it was a "seeming gaffe" on Biden's part. With Trump, the New York Times ran with the headline, "Trump calls Somalis 'garbage' he doesn't want in the country."
During an Oval office meeting, while Trump was referring to Somalis in Minnesota who committed fraud, he said that he didn't want to take "garbage into our country," and then called Omar "garbage."
"She's garbage. Her friends are garbage. These aren't people that work. These aren't people that say, 'Let's go, come on, let's make this place great.' These are people that do nothing but complain. They complain, and from where they came from, they've got nothing."
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