Rep. Jared Golden, in a tough race in Maine, said President Biden was “flat out wrong” for his remark that former President Donald Trump’s supporters are “garbage.”
Democrats have entered damage control following Mr. Biden’s comment on Tuesday that “the only garbage I see floating out there is [Trump’s] supporters” in the waning days of the election, while Republicans are pressuring Democratic candidates to condemn the remarks.
“Any elected official or candidate who calls Americans or America ‘garbage’ is flat out wrong,” Mr. Golden posted on X. “We don’t need leaders to add fuel to partisan fires that are dividing us.
“Americans are bound together as citizens of our great country. What we need most is to work together toward common goals and to overcome common challenges for the good of our communities and country.”
Mr. Golden is locked in a tight race for a fourth term in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District against Republican state Rep. Austin Theriault, a former NASCAR driver. Mr. Trump won in his district by 6 points in 2020.
The Golden-Theriault race is considered a toss-up by the Cook Political Report. The Democrat is leaning on his record as a centrist who has bucked his party on immigration and energy to propel him to victory.
His remarks on Wednesday are not the first time he has spoken out against Mr. Biden. In the chaotic weeks following the president’s incoherent debate performance, Mr. Golden predicted that Mr. Trump would beat the president.
Further, Mr. Golden has declined to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris since she replaced Mr. Biden at the head of the ticket.
Mr. Golden’s latest comment also comes after House Republicans are pressuring Democrats to speak out against Mr. Biden’s garbage line and have compared his gaffe to Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” comment from the 2016 election.
“Hillary called us ‘deplorable,’ Biden calls us ‘garbage,’ but the reality is we are American patriots who just want a better quality of life,” North Carolina Rep. Rich Hudson said in a statement by the National Republican Congressional Committee, of which he’s chairman. “There is nothing ‘garbage’ about wanting affordable groceries and rent, safe streets or a secure border. Joe Biden’s pathetic rant exposed Democrats’ high-minded talking points about unity and bipartisanship as garbage.
“The President of the United States just smeared half of the country – House Democrats can speak up now to disagree, or their silence will say everything voters need to know.”
Mr. Biden’s shot at Mr. Trump came in response to comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s joke Sunday at Mr. Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden that Puerto Rico was a “floating island of garbage.”
Since then, Ms. Harris has distanced herself from Mr. Biden’s comments and the White House has tried to clean up the mess by releasing a transcript of his remarks that included an apostrophe to “supporter’s.”
“And just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage,’” the transcript read. “Well, let me tell you something. I don’t — I — I don’t know the Puerto Rican that — that I know — or a Puerto Rico, where I’m fr- — in my home state of Delaware, they’re good, decent, honorable people. The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter’s — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.
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