Trump snatches mantle of unity from Harris after Biden's “garbage” comment

Former President Donald Trump received a rare gift on Wednesday: For once, he had the opportunity to portray himself as unifying and his opponent as dividing.

That was thanks to US President Joe Biden, who appeared to call Trump's supporters “trash” during a Zoom call with Latino voters on Tuesday.

The White House then released a statement clarifying Biden's comments, saying he was referring to the “hateful rhetoric” at Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden over the weekend. But the damage was done.

Trump wasted no time in echoing Biden's words; He showed up to his rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Wednesday evening in a white garbage truck emblazoned with the Trump 2024 logo.

“This truck is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden,” Trump told reporters while wearing a neon orange high-visibility vest.

He was still wearing the vest when he took the podium at his rally Wednesday night and told his supporters, “They treat you like trash.”

It was a unique opportunity for Trump, who could flip the script on Harris for the first time in the turbulent 2024 election season.

Before Biden's comments emerged on Tuesday, Harris emphasized a message of unity and compromise as he spoke at the Ellipse in Washington, DC, the same place where Trump delivered his pivotal speech to his supporters on January 6, 2021.

“We are all here because we are fighting for a democracy and for people’s right to be heard and seen,” Harris told her supporters on Tuesday. “We are not concerned with the 'enemy within.' We are all in this together and we are fighting for it.”

On Wednesday everything had changed.

The White House was in full damage control mode and Harris scrambled to clean up the mess Biden left behind. She weighed in on Biden's comments Wednesday morning, saying she “strongly disagrees with those who criticize people based on their vote.”

Trump, meanwhile, spent Wednesday portraying Harris and the Democrats as divisive and unwelcoming to those whose views do not align with their own.

“For the last nine years, Kamala and her party have called us racists, bigots, fascists, deplorables, irredeemables, Nazis, and they called me Hitler,” Trump said at his Wisconsin rally as the crowd cheered and booed.

“They have harassed you, they have demonized us, they have censored us, they have disenfranchised us and they have weaponized the power of our own government against all of us,” he continued.

The Republican candidate went on to praise his campaign's support from veterans, union members, farmers and “patriotic mothers and fathers of all races, religions, colors and creeds.”

“We are welcoming historic numbers of African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans and Arab Americans,” Trump said. “And we unite Christians and Jews, Catholics and Evangelicals, Muslims and Mormons and everyone who just wants to do one thing: make America great again.”