US election: Harris seeks to defuse Biden 'garbage' fallout

Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump walked down a Boeing 757 and climbed into a white garbage truck in a bid to draw attention to President Joe Biden's remarks in which he appeared to call Trump's supporters "garbage."

"How do you like my garbage truck?" Trump said, wearing an orange and yellow safety vest over his white dress shirt and red tie. "This is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden."

Trump was himself facing criticism for a racist remark made at his rally. Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe had called Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage."

In an effort to reverse and mitigates some of this backlash, Trump seized on a comment made by Biden late Wednesday: "The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters."

Meanwhile Democratic nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris has distanced herself from Biden's remark, saying she does not support any criticism of people based on whom they vote for. The White House also said that Biden was refering to the comedian specifically.

"Nobody loves Puerto Rico more than me," Trump said from the truck, according to a video.

Immigration remains a hot topic ahead of the US presidential election. During his campaign, Trump has blamed the Biden administration for record migration numbers. Is that really the case? Watch DW's report:

An 18-year-old Trump supporter in Florida was arrested after he allegedly raised a machete above his head in an altercation with two women at a local polling station, the Neptune Beach police chief said on Tuesday.

Police records show the individual is charged with felony aggravated assault and misdemeanor exhibition of a dangerous weapon. 

He was one of a group of young men who had driven to the site "to protest and antagonize the opposing political side," Police Chief Michael Key Jr. said. 

The two women he allegedly threatened were 71 and 54 years old. 

"This goes way beyond expressing freedom of speech," Key said. "To say your piece is your First Amendment right, but that goes out of the window the moment you raise a machete over your head." 

Neptune Beach is a wealthy upscale suburb of roughly 7,000 residents in Florida, a state the Republicans have held by fairly narrow margins since Barack Obama's wins there in 2008 and 2012. It is however not considered to be among the most closely contested  swing states.

As the US gets ready to vote on November 5, there is anxiety in the European Union over Trump's potential return to power and how it could affect the bloc's political and security landscape. 

Several EU interlocutors have been proposed should Trump return to the White House — though not all have the same agenda. 

Mark Rutte, the new NATO secretary-general, is the consensus choice to deal with security challenges and talk with Trump. But Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Polish President Andrzej Duda have also positioned themselves as like-minded Trump allies in Europe. 

But what would we be the consequences? Read DW's analysis.

"I don't really do endorsements," former Republican California governor and celebrity Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote at the opening of a lengthy post online on Wednesday. 

However, the 77-year-old also said he was "not shy about sharing my views" and that he understood that "people want to hear from me" given his public and political past. 

"Let me be honest with you: I don't like either party right now. My Republicans have forgotten the beauty of the free market, driven up deficits, and rejected election results. Democrats aren't any better at dealing with deficits, and I worry about their local policies hurting our cities with increased crime," he wrote. 

He said that at present, "I hate politics more than ever" and "want to tune out." 

"But I can't. Because rejecting the results of an election is as un-American as it gets," he said, going on to describe Trump as "a candidate who won't respect your vote unless it is for him." 

"That's why, this week, I am voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz," he said. " I want to move forward as a country, and even though I have plenty of disagreements with their platform, I think the only way to do that is with Harris and Walz."

Kamala Harris told reporters on Wednesday that she disagrees "with any criticism of people based on who they vote for," as she sought to defuse criticism of comments by Joe Biden during a fundraising call the previous evening, less than a week before the vote. 

"I will represent all Americans, including those who don't vote for me," Harris said on Wednesday. 

Biden had been responding to comments at a Trump rally where comedian Tony Hinchcliffe referred to Puerto Rico as a "floating island of garbage."

"The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter's — his, his demonization of Latinos in unconscionable and it's un-American," Biden said, according to a transcript posted online by a White House spokesman following a fundraising call with Hispanic advocacy group Voto Latino.

Several news organizations had carried the comments without the apostrophe in "supporter's," making the reference appear to refer to all Trump supporters rather than to Hinchcliffe, as the punctuation used by the White House implied. Biden said later online that "all I meant to say" was that Hinchcliffe's comments "don't reflect who we are as a nation." 

Nevertheless, the comments appeared to echo Hillary Clinton's now infamous reference to a "basket of deplorables," as she described around half of Trump's supporter base during the 2016 campaign. These comments are often highlighted as one of the low points in Clinton's losing campaign against Trump. 

Harris' running mate Tim Walz was also asked about Biden's comments on "CBS Mornings" early Wednesday. Walz said that the president "was very clear that he's speaking about the rhetoric we heard." As a result, he said, the comment did not undermine the Democratic Party's campaign call for unity. 

The US Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that the state of Virginia could continue removing registered voters from its electoral roll who the state says are not US citizens. 

A different judge and court last week ordered the state to reinstate the roughly 1,600 purged registered voters, and the state appealed to the Supreme Court. 

President Joe Biden's administration and voting rights groups had said that US citizens were among those struck from the register. 

It is illegal for non-US citizens to vote in elections in the US. Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin had said the policy would remove people "unable to verify that they are citizens."

Virginia has become a reasonably safe state for the Democrats in recent presidential elections, since Barack Obama broke decades of Republican control in 2008. Joe Biden won the state by a margin of around 10% in 2020, while Hillary Clinton won it by roughly 5% in 2016. In those cases, at least, the winning margin was hundreds of thousands of votes. 

Opinion polls in recent months have consistently shown that the economy is top on the minds of voters amid high living costs. 

Both Trump and Harris blame each other's administrations for inflation levels. But combing through the data since 2009 shows that no matter who was in power, the economy seemed to be equally driven by global events, demographic developments and decisions made in the White House. 

Read DW's analysis on the presidential impact on the US economy. 

US President Joe Biden commented on comedian Tony Hinchcliffe's "floating island of garbage" remark on Puerto Rico, which had stirred controversy following Trump's New York rally on Sunday. 

"The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter's," said Biden. The White House later said Biden was referring to Trump's rhetoric, not to his supporters.

DW asked political consultant Louis Perron whether Biden's gaffe would hurt the campaign of his vice president:

In the US, there is a long-standing tradition of media companies "calling" the election in certain states.

The practice dates back to the pre-telegram days of the sprawling democracy, and now utilizes the latest technology to deliver results as soon as possible.

In battleground states, however, the practice can be dramatic and fraught, such as in 2020 when some media workers reported pressure from the Trump campaign to "call" states that weren't certain yet, giving his campaign inertia in western states where voting hadn't closed yet.

Read more: Calling it: Why the media declares results in US elections

When the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, sending aid to Kyiv was one of the rare issues that US Republicans and Democrats could agree on. Now, however, former President Donald Trump and his campaign have steadily encouraged supporters to view Ukraine with suspicion.

Alexander Vindman, a retired US Army lieutenant colonel who was the director for European Affairs in the National Security Council, told DW that for Europe, particularly, the impact of a Trump victory in the US election is more immediate and dire.

"What you have in a Trump election is basically a turn to isolationism, something that we haven't had… in many decades, since before World War Two," he said.

In such a scenario, Vindman added, it creates "a vacuum for the enemies of democracy" and means "Russia believes it has a freer hand."

Under a Kamala Harris administration, Vindman said, Russia would be more likely to recognize that it is facing the full might of Ukraine, backed by democracies supported by NATO, Europe and the US, and would face pressure to move toward negotiations.

When it comes to presidential elections, some of the US 50 states matter more than others. 

Many of the so-called safe states usually vote reliably one way or the other, while "swing states" could be won by either the Democratic or Republican candidate.

This toss-up potential makes them attractive to candidates since these votes could push the election either way.

What are the main election issues in each state? Read DW's analysis.