Rolling up in a garbage truck decked out in campaign signs and flags, former President Donald Trump created a made-for-TV-moment for awaiting reporters Wednesday night ahead of his Green Bay, Wisconsin, rally.
Shortly thereafter, Trump strolled onto a stage surrounded by supporters from battleground Wisconsin donning a bright orange garbageman vest.
“I have to begin by saying 250 million Americans are not garbage,” Trump said, prompting cheers from the crowd. “This week, Kamala has been comparing her political opponents to the most evil mass murderers in history, and now, speaking on a call for her campaign last night, crooked Joe Biden finally said what he and Kamala really think of our supporters. He called them ‘garbage.’”
The political theatrics were fitting for the former reality star who captivated national TV audiences as the star of The Apprentice. The garbage man dress-up also had the practical effect of moving on from Sunday’s Madison Square Garden rally that had been overshadowed by opening speakers delivering demeaning speeches and punchlines toward immigrants, Latinos, and Puerto Ricans, including a comedian who labeled the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage.”
While concerns about his Puerto Rican support may linger, Trump capitalized on a gaffe from President Joe Biden assailing the GOP nominee’s supporters as “garbage.”
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“They actually mean it, even though, without question, my supporters are far higher quality than Crooked Joe or Lyin’ Kamala,” Trump said. “My response to Joe and Kamala is very simple: You can’t lead America if you don’t love Americans.”
The White House’s explanation for Biden’s remarks, made a week before Election Day during a Voto Latino get-out-the-vote call Tuesday night, failed to quell the uproar from Trump, his campaign, and Republican lawmakers. Biden’s team said the president was referring to the Trump rally comedian at Madison Square Garden who denigrated Puerto Rico and not Trump supporters as a whole.
Trump told supporters Wednesday night that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have “bullied you,” “demonized us,” and “censored us.” He made note of his garbageman vest and recalled an infamous critique of his supporters used by 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
“That blows ‘deplorable’ away, don’t you think?” Trump asked rhetorically.
The idea to field questions from the press beforehand dressed as a garbageman, while seated in the passenger seat of a garbage truck, came from his team, Trump said. Campaign staffers informed him that “garbage” was trending online. He said he was told that the orange vest made him look “thinner,” which prompted him to keep it on for the rally.
“We had a little fun about a time when our country is not having a lot of fun,” Trump said.
Pressed by reporters about the offensive Puerto Rico joke while seated in the garbage truck, the former president distanced himself from the comedian Tony Hinchcliffe who delivered it and declined to apologize on their behalf.
“I love Puerto Rico. And Puerto Rico loves me. I don’t know anything about a comedian,” Trump said. “Nobody has done more for Puerto Rico than me. Nobody gets along better with Puerto Rico. They love me and I love them.”
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Trump also sought to take on Harris’s closing argument speech she had delivered the evening prior from the Ellipse just outside the White House. She made an appeal to independent and Republican voters by warning Trump was too dangerous for a second term, speaking from the same spot as his “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, 2021, that precipitated the attack on the Capitol.
“She talked last night, and all she talked about was Donald Trump,” Trump said before playing an edited mashup of her referencing him by name nearly two dozen times. “That’s all she talked about because she and Joe have absolutely no achievements.”