2024 election live updates: Biden 'garbage' gaffe spurs Republican fury at Harris as Trump election odds soar

By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-10-30 13:08:58 | Updated at 2024-10-30 15:19:38 2 hours ago
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By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Published: 12:34 GMT, 30 October 2024 | Updated: 13:04 GMT, 30 October 2024

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With just over five days until Election Day 2024, Kamala Harris finds herself on Wednesday cleaning up a dumpster fire of controversy courtesy of President Joe Biden instead of basking in the glow of her grand DC mall closing statement to the American public.

Responding to a question about comedian Tony Hinchcliffe's widely reviled 'island of garbage' joke about Puerto Rico at Sunday's Madison Square Garden rally for Donald Trump, Biden on Tuesday called the GOP candidate's supporters 'garbage,' tarring millions of American Republicans in one swoop -  a move reminiscent of Hillary Clinton's 'basket of deplorables' comment that helped torpedo her 2016 campaign against Trump.

The White House scrambled to walk back the comment but a top pollster is already calling the crack 'one of Kamala Harris's biggest impediments to victory.'

Follow here for up-to-the-minute election updates. 

Tim Walz insists Biden calling Trump supporters 'garbage' does NOT undercut their 'unity' message

Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz made rounds on morning news shows on Wednesday to do damage control after President Joe Biden called Donald Trump’s supporters ‘garbage.’

But the Democratic vice presidential nominee insisted that Biden’s botched response to the insulting comments does not under cut the party’s message of unity.

'You compared Trump supporters to Nazis. Biden called them "garbage." Hillary called them "deplorables." Doesn't that undercut your fake "unity" message?' CBS Mornings host Tony Dokoupil asked Walz.

The governor replied: 'No, certainly not.'

The whole debacle was sparked when a comedian at Trump’s Mardison Square Garden on Sinday called Puerto Rico a ‘floating pile of garbage,’ sparking ire from the Hispanic community as a whole.

But then Biden handed Republicans a huge assist in the matter when he said on Tuesday that ‘the only garbage I see floating out there is [Trump] supporters.’

Top pollster says Biden one of biggest impediments to Kamala Harris victory

Poll aggregator Nate Silver has warned that Joe Biden is 'one of Kamala Harris' biggest impediments to victory' after the president referred to Donald Trump supporters as 'garbage'.

Silver, the founder of poll analytics site FiveThirtyEight, suggested that Biden will be largely responsible if the Democrat does not win the White House next week.

He claimed that Harris, 60, has done a 'pretty good job' at rallying support ahead of what could be one of the closest races in history, despite 'Biden doing everything possible to f**k it up'.

Kamala Harris campaign silent so far on Biden 'garbage' gaffe

There has still been no official response From Kamala Harris' campaign in the wake of Joe Biden's 'garbage' gaffe.

When the president appeared to call Donald Trump supporters 'garbage' on Tuesday night it overshadowed his vice president's closing campaign event in Washington D.C.

The resulting furor torpedoed what the Harris campaign had expected to be blanket media coverage of her final argument against Trump.

While the White House has sought to downplay Biden's comment the Harris campaign has remained silent.

 Democratic presidential nominee U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally on the Ellipse on October 29, 2024 in Washington, DC. With one week remaining before Election Day, Harris delivered her "closing argument," a speech where she outlined her plan for America and urged voters to "turn the page" on Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images) *** BESTPIX ***

475 ballots are saved from burned drop box in Washington, auditor says

About 475 damaged ballots were retrieved from a ballot box that was burned early Monday in Vancouver, Washington, as police condemn the act as a 'direct attack on American democracy'.

Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey said workers on Wednesday will begin searching through the damaged ballots for voter information in order to contact them about getting a new ballot.

He said officials believe that although damaged, the workers will be able to pull voter information from the ballots.

Trump leads Republican fury after Biden called his supporters 'garbage'

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter in Allentown, Pennsylvania

Donald Trump said President Joe Biden calling his supporters 'garbage' is worse than Hillary Clinton's 2016 'basket of deplorable' remarks.

Trump was speaking to thousands of fans gathered in Allentown, Pennsylvania , Tuesday evening with just seven days left to the election.

The 81-year-old commander-in-chief was responding to a comedian at Trump's Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday comparing Puerto Rico to a 'floating island of garbage.'

Biden said on a campaign zoom Tuesday night: 'The only garbage I see floating out there is his [Trump's] supporters.'

It immediately sparked backlash from MAGA fans, including Trump himself who addressed it in the middle of his rally.

'Wow, that's what [Biden] says… garbage. I think it's worse [than deplorables],' he fired back.

Biden calls Trump supporters 'garbage' in shock moment evoking Hillary Clinton's 'deplorables' insult

President Joe Biden overshadowed Vice President Kamala Harris' big 'closing' campaign speech by calling Donald Trump's supporters 'garbage' in an astonishing outburst.

The 81-year-old commander-in-chief's bombshell gaffe evoked memories of Hillary Clinton's infamous dismissal of Trump voters as 'deplorables' in 2016, which contributed to her shock defeat.

It came as Harris was hoping to capture the nation's full attention with a carefully planned rally in front of the White House for 75,000 Democrats one week before Election Day. Harris used the event on Tuesday night to make her final case, declaring she would be a unifying president 'for all Americans'.

Michigan polls put Trump and Kamala in dead heat with just 6 days to go

Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are virtually tied in Michigan, according to a new poll released just six days until the 2024 presidential election.

A Suffolk/USA Today survey has Trump with a tiny 0.4 percentage point advantage over Vice President Kamala Harris – 47.4 percent to 47 percent.

Michigan is one of the seven swing states vital to clinching a victory on Novemver 5. The others are Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

The results between the candidates are well within the Michigan poll’s 4.4 percentage point margin of error.

Of the 500 Michiganders surveyed in the latest, 1.4 percent still say they will cast their ballots for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And the same percentage say they will vote for Green Oarty Candidate Jill Stein.

Exclusive:Tim Scott reveals why black men have been duped by Democrats for years and should vote Trump

Senator Tim Scott told DailyMail.com that black male voters have been lied to by Democrats for years.

And that's why enthusiasm for Donald Trump among them has never been higher, he says.

With less than one week until Election Day, the South Carolina Republican has been traveling around the country attending events with black voters in swing states on behalf of the ex-president and Republican Senate candidates.

During his travels he frequently hears frustration from these men who express that they feel duped by the Democrats.

'What I hear oftentimes is that "the Democrats have a lied to us,"' Scott revealed to DailyMail.com.

Exclusive:Steve Bannon: I survived prison because my life's been nothing like Hunter Biden's - he won't last two days

Hours after being released from federal prison, Donald Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon said he had a warning for the Biden family: Pardon Hunter before he has to serve a sentence that could destroy him.

'I don't think Hunter Biden would last 48 hours in a federal prison,' he told DailyMail.com

'I think that it would be too much for him, particularly with his previous drug addiction.'

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