Trump supporters in North Carolina react to Biden's perceived insult

Supporters of former president Donald Trump on Wednesday (October 30) rejected comments made by President Joe Biden in which he seemed to refer to them as "garbage." "We're not garbage, we're not trash. We're the American people," said Heather Johnson outside a Trump rally venue in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. On a fundraising call with the group Voto Latino on Tuesday, Biden said, "The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter's - his - his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and it's un-American," according to a transcript posted on X by a White House spokesperson. Biden's gaffe came after comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage" at a rally at New York's Madison Square Garden on Sunday, one of a series of vulgar and racist remarks by Trump allies at the event. With less than a week before voters decide between Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and Trump, the White House quickly sought to limit any further fallout from the gaffe, issuing a statement saying he was referring to Trump supporters' hateful rhetoric, not the supporters themselves. Trump supporters quickly began comparing the comment to widely-criticized remarks by then-Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton at an event in September 2016: "You could put half of Trump supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables," Clinton said. (Production: Gerson Peaks, Tom Rowe)