US election campaign: After the “garbage” controversy: Trump speaks from a garbage truck

After controversial statements in the US election campaign about “garbage” and Puerto Rico, presidential candidate Donald Trump caused a stir with an action in a garbage truck. Trump spoke to reporters from the large vehicle in the battleground state of Wisconsin. He was dressed in the orange and yellow vest of a garbage collector – in which he later appeared on stage at a campaign event. Biden showed what he and his Vice President Kamala Harris thought of millions of Americans.

Comedian brought trouble to Trump’s campaign

The controversy began with a tasteless joke at a major Trump campaign event on Sunday. A comedian described the US territory of Puerto Rico as an island of garbage floating in the ocean. The statement sparked widespread outrage in Puerto Rico. This could be a problem for Trump, because around 500,000 Puerto Ricans live in the hotly contested and potentially decisive election state of Pennsylvania alone.

On Tuesday, Biden addressed the scandal in the phone call with the Latino community. He spoke positively of Puerto Ricans and criticized Trump. However, one of his sentences in a video that was shared online can also be understood as follows: “The only rubbish I see floating around is his followers.” It is not clear from the recording whether Biden actually called Trump’s supporters “trash” – or the common views and statements about Latinos. The official White House transcript presents it as if the latter were true. Trump’s camp spreads the other reading. The 81-year-old Biden often hesitates in his sentences.

Biden himself later emphasized on the online platform “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I wanted to say.”

Harris, who is neck and neck with Trump just over a week before the presidential election, emphasized that she is against criticizing people for who they vote for. She wants to be president for all Americans – even for those who don’t vote for her. Biden also clarified his statements.

“How do you like my garbage disposal?”

Trump, for his part, has said in recent weeks that the United States has become a “trash can for the world” because of an alleged “invasion” of criminal migrants from all over the world. On Wednesday in the city of Green Bay, Wisconsin, Trump said Harris would allow 300 million immigrants into the country as president. The USA has a total population of around 337 million.

“How do you like my garbage disposal?” Trump asked reporters from the vehicle at the airport. After a few meters, he got into his armored car to drive to the election campaign event, as he later admitted.