Naomi Lim of the Washington Examiner highlights the latest controversial comment from President Biden.
President Joe Biden’s rare appearances on the campaign trail, which have created political problems for Vice President Kamala Harris, have reminded Democrats why he was a poor standard-bearer.
Polls find that the race between Harris and former President Donald Trump is within the margin of error in the seven battleground states that will decide next week’s contest. That means any political misstep, including Biden’s recent “garbage” remark, could provide an undecided voter with an excuse to vote for their opponent or not cast a ballot at all.
Biden blasted Hinchcliffe’s Puerto Rico joke, arguing that the “only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.” His comment, made during a campaign call with Latino advocacy organization Voto Latino at the White House, came as Harris stepped onto a platform set up at the nearby Ellipse for her closing arguments address.
Despite Biden clarifying that he was calling Tony Hinchcliffe “garbage,” after the comedian described Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage” at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally last weekend, he cast a shadow over Harris’s address.
It was exactly a week since he last overshadowed her on the campaign trail, telling Democrats in New Hampshire the party needs to “politically lock [Trump] up” and “lock him out.” Prior to that, he undercut her complaints about Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) not taking her phone call amid hurricane preparations by praising him, and before that, he donned a “Trump 2024” hat during a Sept. 11 anniversary event.
But, more broadly, Biden has cast a shadow over Harris’s campaign as she contends with being the vice president to an unpopular president and has been repeatedly asked how her administration would be different, at first being unable to answer the question. Biden’s average approval rating is net negative 15.5 percentage points, according to RealClearPolitics.
