Top Republican strategist Frank Luntz has warned that President Joe Biden’s “garbage” comment could have potentially cost Kamala Harris the election.
Biden inadvertently whipped up a conservative media storm this week when he appeared to call Donald Trump’s supporters “garbage” in response to comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s racist joke about Puerto Rico at the GOP candidate’s Madison Square Garden rally.
The GOP pollster slammed Biden for the “inappropriate” remark and predicted that it could be a “turning point” in the 2024 race.
“I can promise you, this is going to drive Trump turnout,” Luntz told CNN.
“This may be a turning point for those final three percent. That’s all it is who still need to be persuaded.”
Luntz said that Biden’s gaffe is likely to do more damage to Harris because he is “not some comedian saying something stupid and offensive.”
“This is the president of the United States endorsing his vice president saying something – and I know that there’s different interpretations about what he said – but it’s still inappropriate. He still shouldn’t be doing it,” Luntz said, likening the gaffe to when Hillary Clinton referred to Trump supporters as a “basket of deplorables” in 2016.
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters, his, his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and it’s un-American,” Biden said.
The White House said quickly tried to downplay the comments, insisting that he was referring to Hinchcliffe’s demonization of Latinos – and not Trump’s supporters.
Meanwhile, Harris distanced herself from the remarks. “I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for,” she told reporters.
Trump has seized on Biden’s comment in an attempt to turn the tables after his campaign was pummelled over Hinchcliffe’s joke.
Donning a bright orange safety vest, Trump clambered into a garbage truck to taunt Biden and Harris in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Wednesday.
But, during the stunt, the former president was still asked by reporters about Hinchcliffe.
“I don’t know anything about the comedian,” Trump said. “I don’t know who he is. I’ve never seen him. I heard he made a statement, but it was a statement that he made. He’s a comedian, what can I tell you. I know nothing about him.”
Jake Rosen of CBS News asked the former president if he owed Puerto Rico an apology, to which he replied: “I love Puerto Rico and Puerto Rico loves me.”
There are 400,000 people born in Puerto Rico or of Puerto Rican descent living in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, according to the US Census Bureau, as well as large Puerto Rican communities in other key swing states.
