Trump trash talks Harris as Biden’s ‘garbage’ remark causes controversy

Donald Trump pulled an election stunt with a garbage truck as the White House campaign was forced off-piste by muddled remarks from President Joe Biden about the Republican’s supporters that caused a headache for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.

Harris had hoped to spend the day expanding on the final week “closing argument” she made at a huge Washington rally the night before – but found herself instead disavowing Biden’s remark that appeared to label Trump supporters “garbage”.

Trump – who, unlike Harris, has recently called his political opponents “garbage” in public – was on hand to exploit the misstep with a photo-op on Wednesday, climbing into a garbage truck at an airport in Wisconsin and answering questions from reporters.

The row started over the weekend when a warm-up speaker at a Trump rally called the US territory of Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage”, in remarks that initially put the Republican campaign on the defensive.

Yet Biden’s gaffe provided Trump the opportunity to play the victim.