Mitch McCann: US Correspondent on Joe Biden's response to the comments on Puerto Rico

What could have been a win for the Democrats has become a bit of a storm in a teacup. 

The Trump campaign received a huge amount of backlash after a comedian suggested that Puerto Rico is a floating island of garbage.  

Joe Biden responded to the comments on a Zoom, saying that Puerto Ricans are good, decent, honourable people, and the only garbage he sees floating out there are Trump’s supporters. 

US correspondent Mitch McCann told Ryan Bridge the White House says Biden was calling the racist language garbage, not Trump supporters. 

However, he says that even Kamala Harris has distanced herself from the comments, saying she disagrees with any criticism of people based on who they vote for.  

LISTEN ABOVE 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Mitch McCann is a US correspondent, Mitch, Joe Biden sending
the Harris campaign into not quite meltdown, but certainly into
damage control.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Yeah, that's right, Good morning, Ryan. At this stage of
the campaign, it really isn't time to be making major
mistakes now. At that Trump rally here in New York,
which I attended on Sunday, the campaign received a huge
amount of backlash for the comedian who suggested that Porto
Rico is a floating island of garbage. So in some
ways that's a win politically for the Democrats. However, Joe

(00:31):
Biden has managed to create what has become a bit
of a pr mess over here when responding to those
comments on a Zoom call last night. This is what
the current president had to say in response to suggestions
that Porto Rico is a floating island of garbage.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
They're good, decent, honorable people. The only garbage I see
floating out there is his supporters. His demonizational STIs I'm constable.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah, the only garbage I see out there are his supporters.
He's been criticized saying that the White House says he
was describing the racist language as garbage. Not Trump supporters,
and Kamala Harris has even distanced herself from those comments,
saying she disagrees with any criticism of people based on
who they vote for. Storming a teacup Ryan maybe, but
not helpful.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
No, And I can remember the twenty sixteen election when
Hillary Clinton said this, and it was went down like
a cup of cold sick.

Speaker 3 (01:24):
You could put half of Trump's supportors and doing what
I called the mass of Lauras.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
You know.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
It was.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
It was funny to the supporters who were there, but
most Americans, particularly those swingers, felt that that was a
disgusting thing to say. So it'd be interesting to see
how this plays out. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris has closed her
We'll not quite closed the campaign, but she's given her
closing address.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
Yeah, that's right. She took to the same stage in
Washington last night where Democrats say Donald Trump and cited
those riots on the Capitol in twenty twenty one. She
called it her closing address. Her campaign sees the crowd,
it was seven twenty five thousand people. She said on
day one, if elected, Donald Trump would walk into the
Oval office with an enemy's list. When elected, I will

(02:07):
walk in with a to do lit and Trump's campaign
has responded by say Kamala Harris is lying, name calling
and clinging to the past. And with six days to
go now, Ryan, the polls are extremely close. Trump and
Harris are making their final swing through the Swing States.
At the moment, she's visiting three today. Will He'll be
in two match.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
Thank you very much that much we can stateside for.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Us for more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
Listen live to news Talks. It'd be from five am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.