Vice President Kamala Harris said Wednesday that she “strongly disagree[s] with any criticism of people based on who they vote for,” batting away President Joe Biden’s “garbage” comments amid calls — largely from Republicans — for the president to apologize.
Interpretations of what Biden said in garbled remarks Tuesday night come down to an apostrophe. Speaking over video to Voto Latino, Biden either said Donald Trump’s “supporters” are “garbage” — as Trump and his allies say — or said his “supporter’s … demonization” of Puerto Ricans is “garbage” — as the White House says.
The comment proved to be an immediate distraction for the Harris campaign, with the vice president coming off a speech to a massive crowd Tuesday night that was partially intended to send the exact opposite message.
Simmering tension between the White House and the campaign existed even when Biden was still leading the ticket. But once Harris assumed the top of the ticket, the vibes shifted, as the campaign mixed longtime Biden and Harris aides, with Harris aides moving to the forefront. Sources have described the melting pot of aides as a marriage of convenience.
But Harris’ loyalty to the president has been consistent. She’s been unwilling to criticize Biden or his record when pressed in interviews, even when her own aides have pushed her to be more vocal about their differences. In her short response Wednesday morning, even as she didn’t explicitly defend Biden, Harris said he had “clarified his comments.”
Harris aides certainly groaned Tuesday night after Biden’s latest in a history of gaffes. One operative, who said they didn’t believe Biden’s remark would have an electoral impact, still said they were tired of the current president and his derailing of the news cycle.
And another, close to the vice president, simply texted NOTUS a picture of Harris holding a microphone in 2019 with the words “DUDE GOTTA GO” overlaid on top.
Gov. Tim Walz was the first on the Democratic ticket to speak on Biden’s comments publicly — but aside from saying that “the president has clarified his remarks” in apparent agreement with the White House’s interpretation, Walz largely breezed past Biden and pivoted back to discussing Trump’s words.
“Donald Trump’s divisive rhetoric is what needs to end. He called this a garbage country and continues on from the enemy within,” Walz said to George Stephanopoulos on “Good Morning America.”
Trump has largely avoided addressing Tony Hinchcliffe’s original “garbage” comment about Puerto Rico at the campaign’s Madison Square Garden rally. But the campaign did blast Biden’s response. “Harris, Walz, and Biden have labeled these great Americans as fascists, Nazis, and now, garbage,” a Trump campaign spokesperson said in a statement to reporters.
JD Vance followed suit, tweeting at least three times after Biden’s Voto Latino appearance, including with a declaration that Biden and Harris “ought to be ashamed of themselves.”
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Shifra Dayak is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow. Jasmine Wright is a reporter at NOTUS.