Trump pounces on Biden's 'garbage' comment. But he's used the same word for opponents
WASHINGTON ― Five days before the election, former President Donald Trump and his campaign are trying to milk President Joe Biden's "garbage" remark for everything its worth ? telling supporters it shows what Democrats really think about half the country.
Yet Trump, the Republican nominee, has made a long list of disparaging remarks himself, including labeling political opponents "garbage" and "scum," just last week referring to the United States as the "garbage can for the world," and calling his adversaries the "enemy within."
Trump pounced ? and hasn't let up ? after Biden appeared to call Trump supporters "garbage." During a Harris campaign Zoom call Tuesday night, Biden said, "The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters ? his ? his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it's un-American."
Biden was responding to comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who called Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage" at a Trump rally Sunday. Biden later clarified that he was referring to Hinchcliffe, not all Trump supporters.
But by Wednesday, Trump was highlighting the gaffe with props. He climbed into a Trump-branded garbage truck Wednesday to talk to reporters before wearing an orange safety vest at a campaign rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin that night.
“How do you like my garbage truck? This truck is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden," Trump said, referring to his opponent Vice-President Kamala Harris and the president.
The Trump campaign is working to make "garbage" the new "basket of deplorables" ? the line Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton famously used in 2016 to describe a subset of Trump backers, a gaffe that Republicans used to portray Clinton as an elitist.
But the strategy has brought attention back to Trump's own recent statements.
"It’s the people that surround (Harris). They're scum and they want to take down our country. They are absolute garbage," Trump said at a September rally in Mosinee, Wisconsin, although the former president did not appear to be referring to all Harris supporters. The clip was resurfaced Wednesday by the anti-Trump Lincoln Project amid the "garbage" controversy.
The Harris campaign is pointing to Trump's often-polarizing rhetoric to suggest he's being hypocritical.
"The candidate who called America a 'trash can.' Whose rally called Puerto Rico 'garbage.' Is riding around in a garbage truck for fun," Harris campaign spokeswoman Sarafina Chitika wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "Is this an in-kind donation?"
'Scum' and 'Enemy from within'
At a campaign rally last week in Tempe, Arizona, Trump said migrants who have entered the county through the southern border have turned the United States into a "garbage can for the world." He's since used the phrase in subsequent speeches.
"We're a dumping ground,” Trump said. “We're like a garbage can for the world. That's what happened."
The Trump campaign pushed back when USA TODAY asked about Trump's own use of "garbage" and "scum."
"Joe Biden labeled Trump SUPPORTERS as garbage. He insulted more than half of the country. Stop trying to play cleanup for Joe Biden. It's pathetic," Karoline Leavitt, Trump's national press secretary, said in a statement.
Trump has also used the term “human scum” frequently in reference to those that have gone against him, beyond Harris or Biden.
“Happy Memorial Day to All, including the Human Scum that is working so hard to destroy our Once Great Country,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post in May, going on to rail against the federal judge who presided over advice columnist E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case against him.
Months later in a separate Truth Social post, Trump repeated “human scum,” this time in rage against the writer behind “The Apprentice,” a biopic made about Trump – much to Trump’s displeasure – in his early career.
More: Biden sparks Republican backlash after appearing to swipe at Trump's supporters
“So sad that HUMAN SCUM, like the people involved in this hopefully unsuccessful enterprise, are allowed to say and do whatever they want in order to hurt a Political Movement,” Trump wrote this month.
Meanwhile, Trump has suggested using the U.S. military to arrest what's he's called the "enemy from within." During an interview this month on Fox News, Trump said, "I think the bigger problem is the enemy within," when asked about potential foreign-agitated violence on Election Day, singling out the "radical left lunatics."
"It should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard or if really necessary by the military," he said.
More: Can military forces be used to quash an 'enemy within,' like Trump suggested? Here's what to know
Trump has said "the enemy within" pose greater threats than overseas rivals. "It's the from enemy within, all the scum that we have to deal with, that hate our country," Trump said Oct. 11. "That's a bigger enemy than China and Russia,"
Harris has sought to distance herself from Biden's "garbage" remarks telling reporters Wednesday that she disagreed “with any criticism of people based on who they vote for.”
Biden quickly clarified his "garbage" remark ? which came shortly after Harris made an appeal for unity and civility during a "closing argument" speech at the Ellipse in Washington.
Biden said he was referring to the comedian. "His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That's all I meant to say. The comments at that rally don't reflect who we are as a nation,” Biden said.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Garbage' and 'scum:' Trump has also demonized adversaries