Donald Trump broke out the props Wednesday in the final days of this chaotic campaign as the former president seized on a garbled remark by President Joe Biden that seemed to insult Trump voters as “garbage.”
Trump emerged from his plane ahead of a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, wearing a bright orange and yellow safety vest before climbing into a garbage truck – with a big “TRUMP” sign emblazoned on the side – to take questions from reporters.
Biden has personally denied calling Trump supporters “garbage,” saying his comment on a video call Tuesday night been misinterpreted. The White House, on clean-up duty, insisted the president was only talking about one person, the little-known comedian who called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” this weekend as he warmed up the Madison Square Garden crowd for Trump.
No matter Biden’s intention, Republicans eager to move on from the backlash to the New York City rally pounced on the remark, with Trump leading the way on the campaign trail.
From the passenger seat of the garbage truck, Trump suggested Biden’s comment should be attributed to Kamala Harris herself, saying the episode was “worse, really” than when Hillary Clinton described half of Trump’s supporters as “deplorables” during the 2016 campaign.
In between attacks on Biden and Harris over the remark, Trump said he didn’t think the military would “have to be used” to respond to the “enemies within” – the phrase he’s used to describe Americans who might protest his return to office. He also said he would accept the election results, with a familiar caveat.
“If they find no evidence of cheating anywhere, I’ll accept the results. I hope that’s going to be the case,” Trumps said. “Win, lose or draw, I hope that’s going to be the case.”
Still wearing the safety vest, Trump opened his Green Bay rally – one of his final chances to address Wisconsin voters before next week’s election – by speaking at length about the props. He praised his “very capable people” for getting it all together so quickly and then recapped their discussion beforehand.
“One of my people came in and said, ‘Sir, you know the word ‘garbage’ is the hottest thing right now. Out there, the hottest thing out there. Sir, would you like to drive a garbage truck?” Trump said. “They pulled up this garbage truck. I don’t know how the hell they did it so fast. I have very capable people. They put a big sign on the truck. Did you see it?”
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