Presidential Punctuation

What’s in an apostrophe, anyway? Last night, President Joe Biden called all of Donald Trump’s supporters “garbage.” Or did he?

The much-debated gaffe came during a Zoom call between Biden and the progressive group Voto Latino. The president’s alleged insult of all Trump supporters came as he was criticizing comedian Tony Hinchcliffe for calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” during Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally held this past weekend.

A clip of the president’s remarks seems to record a rambling Biden saying “The only garbage I see out there is his supporters…his…his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.”

WATCH: President Joe Biden: “The only garbage I see floating out there is [Trump] supporters.” pic.twitter.com/9teSUOytqC

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) October 30, 2024

Reporters’ immediate coverage of the comments also records Biden saying “supporters.”

Pres. Biden tonight:

“Donald Trump has no character. He doesn’t give a damn about the Latino community…just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage?…The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.”

— Gabe Gutierrez (@gabegutierrez) October 29, 2024

Immediately, conservative journalists and Trump himself seized on the comments as an inappropriate demonization of Republican voters. They were quick to draw parallels to Hillary Clinton’s infamous “deplorables” insult from the 2016 campaign trail.

In reaction, the White House released a transcript that recorded Biden as saying “supporter’s” singular, not “supporters” plural. The president’s “garbage” barb was directed only at Hinchcliffe, and not Trump voters writ large, they argued.

Biden tonight in condemning the joke about Puerto Rico.

“The only garbage I see floating out there is his [supporters/supporter's]–his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.”

The WH says Biden was talking about the comedian—”supporter’s”

The clip: pic.twitter.com/F7VRcyBFJu

— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) October 30, 2024

Biden’s true remarks quickly became the ultimate partisan Rorschach test.

Liberal commenters insisted that Biden had obviously said “supporter’s.” As evidence, they pointed to the succeeding sentence in which Biden said that “his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable.” The singular “his” is proof that Biden’s “supporter’s” comment was also a singular reference to Hinchcliffe.

Seems very clear from context that Biden was trying to call Hinchecliffe “garbage” – that he was saying “supporter’s” possessive, not “supporters” plural

— Zack Beauchamp (@zackbeauchamp) October 30, 2024

Conservatives were not buying this at all, deriding Biden and the White House’s hurried explanations as a rushed spin that asks you to not believe your lying eyes and ears.

Bullshit. He called half of you garbage.
Either because he meant it, or because he’s senile.
Or both. https://t.co/8objkJSvfu

— Tim Carney (@TPCarney) October 30, 2024

As a dedicated nonvoter, I’m happy to accept that either interpretation of Biden’s remarks is plausible. From just listening to the clip, and not the subsequent arguments about it, it does in fact sound like the president is referring to all Trump supporters. But the White House’s subsequent explanation isn’t totally unbelievable either.

My main takeaway from the controversy is that I can’t wait for this election to be over. The polls are incredibly close and emotions are running high. In this context, everything feels like it matters a lot, including an elderly, rambling Biden’s precise placement of apostrophes.

The closer we get to Election Day, the more people are going to zero in on every insult, real or perceived, and every gaffe, actual or just alleged. Once we know who the next president will be, perhaps the nation’s political debate can slightly refocus to more substantive issues of policy and the size and scope of government. (That’s my naive hope anyway.)

Closing Arguments: Gliding over these petty controversies last night, or at least attempting to do so, was Vice President Kamala Harris herself.

Just outside the White House, where inside communications staffers were hurriedly copy editing Biden, Harris held a rally where she made her closing pitch to America’s undecided voters.

The Democratic nominee did her best to strike a unifying nonpartisan note while also amping up the alleged stakes of this election.

“This election is more than a choice between two parties and two different candidates. It is a choice about whether we have a country rooted in freedom for every American. Or one ruled by chaos and division,” said Harris, who made heavy references to the chaos of January 6, while repeating some stock biography about her middle-class upbringing.

Harris sounded hawkish notes on foreign policy and the border, promising to pass a border security bill and guarantee America has “the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world.”

On the economy, she promised to expand Medicare benefits and tax credits for families, crack down on “price gouging,” and, interestingly enough, work to liberalize housing regulations.

“We have heard excuses about why America can’t build enough housing. Enough with the excuses. I’m going to cut red tape and work with the private sector and local governments to speed up building and get it done,” said Harris.

A politicized attack on the website formerly known as Twitter? Earlier this week, the Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee released a report detailing the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) allegedly politically motivated crackdown on Twitter immediately after Elon Musk bought the social media site (that’s since been renamed X).

For years prior to Musk’s acquisition of the site, the FTC, under its progressive chairwoman Lina Khan, had been hashing out a consent decree with the company that would require Twitter to turn over certain requested information.

#NEWS: Judiciary Republicans release report on how the Biden-Kamala Harris FTC continues to harass @elonmusk.

Read it here: https://t.co/51rdcb9Fuy pic.twitter.com/Q3aOLehHfM

— House Judiciary GOP ???????????????????????? (@JudiciaryGOP) October 28, 2024

The Judiciary Committee found that FTC rushed to finalize this consent decree, citing Musk’s pending takeover as the reason for the hurry. In the first three months after Musk bought Twitter, the FTC sent the company 350 demands for information and documents.

Many of these demanded documents fell outside the scope of the consent decree, says the Judiciary Committee’s report, which accuses the Biden-Harris administration of “weaponizing” the FTC against Musk.

Scenes from D.C.: About a mile from Harris’ White House rally, another intense race was playing out. That would of course be the 37th Annual 17th Street High Heel Race in D.C.’s historic gay neighborhood of DuPont Circle.

Drag queens sprinted down the closed-off street, while less elaborately consumed revelers cheered them on.

???? HEEL YA!
The 37th annual 17th Street High Heel Race brought the ???? ???? ???? Congratulations Kenny and everyone who put on those costumes, climbed onto those heels and raced for the ribbon! @nbcwashington pic.twitter.com/2g2jc2UrH8

— Tommy McFLY (@TommyMcFLY) October 30, 2024

• McDonald’s might finally be allowed to fix its own McFlurry machines, thanks to a ruling from the U.S. Copyright Office.
• The most believable conspiracy theories are the ones we hear from friends, says new research.
• The economy continues to grow at an impressive clip.
• The feds and the state of California will bail out homeowners who built their homes on a landside-prone hillside to the tune of $42 million.
• The U.S. failed to act on claims that weapons it provided to Israel were used to kill civilians in Gaza, says new report.

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