Joe Biden called Donald Trump supporters “garbage” as he waded into a row over the Republican nominee’s Madison Square Garden rally.
The president took a swipe at Trump’s Sunday night campaign stop in which warm-up act Tony Hinchcliffe described Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.”
Responding to the comments, Mr Biden told Hispanic advocacy group Vote Latino: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonisation of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”
The White House attempted to walk back the remarks, insisting the president was referring to the rhetoric at the rally as “garbage”.
Republicans immediately seized on Mr Biden’s comments with Florida Senator Marco Rubio informing a Trump rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania on Tuesday night what the president had said.
“Moments ago Joe Biden stated that our supporters, our patriots, are garbage,” Mr Rubio said. “He’s talking about everyday Americans who love their country.”
Trump compared the remarks to those of Hillary Clinton in 2016, when she said that his supporters belong in a “basket of deplorables”.
“Remember Hillary, she said ‘deplorable’ and then she said ‘irredeemable’,” Trump told his supporters. “Garbage I think is worse right.”