Former President Donald Trump was greeted at a Wisconsin airport on Wednesday by a “big, beautiful MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN Garbage Truck.”
Sitting in the passenger seat of the MAGA-themed truck and wearing an orange safety vest, Trump called out to reporters, “How do you like my garbage truck?” as it rolled around the tarmac. “This truck is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden,” he added.
The stunt came just a day after President Biden, 81, referred to some Trump supporters as “garbage” during a campaign call at the White House, reacting to a comment from comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who had referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage” during Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden. “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and un-American,” Biden said in a call with Voto Latino, while Vice President Kamala Harris emphasized the Democratic Party’s vision for unity in a nearby Washington, DC, rally.
Republicans were quick to condemn Biden’s comment, comparing it to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 “basket of deplorables” remark. In response, the White House tried to clarify the statement, amending the official transcript to include an apostrophe in “supporters,” suggesting Biden was addressing Hinchcliffe directly. Biden later clarified his statement on X, writing, “his demonizations of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say.”
The Harris-Walz campaign followed up with an ad referencing Hinchcliffe’s remark and recalling Trump’s response to Hurricane Maria in 2017. In the ad, Harris stated, “I will never forget what Donald Trump did. He abandoned the island and offered nothing more than paper towels and insults.”
Distancing himself from Hinchcliffe after bipartisan backlash, Trump, when asked if he owed Puerto Rico an apology, denied knowledge of the comedian, instead affirming his support for the island. “Nobody has done more for Puerto Rico than me. I took care of them when they had the big hurricanes. Nobody gets along better with Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rican people than me. They love me and I love them,” he said, sitting in the garbage truck.
“I don’t know anything about the comedian. I don’t know who he is. I heard he made a statement, but it’s a statement he made. He’s a comedian. What can I tell you? You put comedians up, and I guess he went on early in the show.”
Hinchcliffe defended his comment, calling it a joke. The MAGA garbage truck, meanwhile, followed Trump’s motorcade en route to his rally in Green Bay, where he is set to speak later tonight.
