Kamala Harris called for Americans to “stop pointing fingers at each other” as she tried to push past comments made by President Joe Biden about Donald Trump’s supporters and “garbage”.
Trying to keep the focus on her Republican opponent in the closing days of the race, the vice president held rallies in a trio of battleground states on Wednesday as part of a blitz in the closing week of the election, with stops in Raleigh, North Carolina, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Madison, Wisconsin.
“We know we have an opportunity in this election to turn the page on a decade of Donald Trump, who has been trying to keep us divided and afraid of each other,” the Democratic nominee said.
She stressed unity and common ground, expanding on her speech on Tuesday in Washington, where she laid out what her team called the “closing argument” of her campaign.
“I am not looking to score political points,” she said. “I am looking to make progress.”
The White House rushed to explain that the president’s comment about “garbage” was a reference to rhetoric from Mr Trump’s allies, not the former’s supporters themselves.
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Mr Biden “does not view Trump supporters or anybody who supports Trump as garbage”.
The controversy began on Tuesday — at the same time Ms Harris was speaking near the White House — when Mr Biden participated in a campaign call organised by the Hispanic advocacy group Voto Latino. Mr Biden used the opportunity to criticise Sunday’s Madison Square Garden rally, where a comedian described Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage”.
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonisation of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American,” Mr Biden said. “It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”
Ms Harris told reporters before boarding Air Force Two for her flight to Raleigh that she disagrees “with any criticism of people based on who they vote for”.
“I will represent all Americans, including those who don’t vote for me,” she said.
Republicans seized on Mr Biden’s comments, claiming they were an echo of the time when Hillary Clinton, as the Democratic nominee in 2016, said half of Mr Trump’s supporters belonged in a “basket of deplorables”.
“We know what they believe. Because look how they’ve treated you,” Mr Trump said at his rally in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, on Wednesday. “They’ve treated you like garbage. The truth is, they’ve treated our whole country like garbage.
“Without question, my supporters are far higher-quality than Crooked Joe’s.”
After landing in Green Bay, Wisconsin, for another rally later in the day, Mr Trump posed for photos while wearing a neon orange and yellow vest and sitting in the passenger seat of a garbage truck festooned with American flags and campaign signs.
“Joe Biden should be ashamed of himself, if he knows what he’s even doing,” he said.
In attacking Mr Biden — and by extension, Ms Harris — Republicans have glossed over Mr Trump’s own history of insulting and demonising rhetoric, such as calling the United States a “garbage can for the world” or describing political opponents as “the enemy within”.
Mr Trump has also described the vice president as a “stupid person” and “lazy as hell”, and questioned whether she was on drugs.
Donald Trump thinks he should get to make decisions about what you do with your body.
Whether you like it or not. https://t.co/SdAFNcVrZc— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) October 31, 2024
He has refused demands to apologise for the comment about Puerto Rico at his rally, acknowledging that “somebody said some bad things” but adding that he “can’t imagine it’s a big deal”.
At each of Ms Harris’ rallies, she was confronted by pro-Palestinian protestors objecting to her support for Israel’s military campaign against Hamas in Gaza.
“We all want the war in Gaza to end and get the hostages out,” she said during one interruption in Madison. “Everyone has a right to be heard, but right now I’m speaking.”
The crowd roared in approval, drowning out another group of protesters who unfurled a banner saying “No Funding for War Crimes”.
Mr Trump reignited a different controversy in his Wisconsin rally by revisiting his promise to “protect the women of our country”.
After complaining about his own staffers telling him it was “inappropriate”, Mr Trump insisted: “I’m gonna do it whether the women like it or not.”
