Donald Trump faced an uproar over racist jokes told at his Madison Square Garden rally before the election ― but President Joe Biden stopped the damage and “saved” the news cycle for Trump, the president-elect’s campaign team claimed in a new interview.
Speakers at the event — which included Tony Hinchcliffe, the comedian who called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” — left Trump “aggravated,” co-campaign manager Chris LaCivitatold Politico in an article posted on Thursday.
“Unforced error,” chief pollster Tony Fabrizio added. “I mean, obviously we weren’t happy that it happened.”
LaCivita said they planned to put out a one-line statement and “move on” but Fabrizio hinted that the media fury wasn’t letting up. Then three days after the event, Biden appeared to call Trump supporters “garbage” in response to the joke.
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden said.
Relegated to spin control, the White House tried to explain that Biden was referring to Hinchcliffe’s words. The president himself also attempted to walk back the remark. Officials reportedly even altered the official transcript to include an apostrophe to buttress their argument.
But Biden’s comment had redirected outrage while undermining Kamala Harris’ closing message.
“Saved it,” LaCivita said.
“Biden saved the news cycle?” Politico’s Jonathan Martin asked.
“Yeah,” LaCivita replied.
