Apostrophegate: White House, Politico Writer Try to Cover Up Biden’s Latest Whopper
As I see it, apostrophegate rather ends the Hinchcliffe story as a problem for the Trump campaign. And lays it squarely at the feet of Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Reacting to an offensive joke about Puerto Rico delivered by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at former President Donald Trump’s Sunday night mega-rally, President Joe Biden made an even more offensive remark about Trump supporters. On a Tuesday night Zoom call with members of Voto Latino, Biden said, “The only garbage I see floating out there is his [Trump’s] supporters.” Yes, the President of the United States called 74 million Americans garbage. Mary Chastain reported on this story here.
Pres. Biden tonight just called 75 million people garbage.
“…The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.” pic.twitter.com/Y8Wfts5ESu
— Michelle (@MichelleFaretta) October 30, 2024
The difference between Tony Hinchcliffe and Joe Biden is that Biden isn’t a comedian or making a joke.
Democrats truly believe proud America-loving patriots are garbage. Or as Hillary Clinton called us, “Deplorables”
Anyways, this was the most beautiful landfill I’ve ever seen! https://t.co/XpZXsyq16c pic.twitter.com/pRY0YcVxxD
— Ashley St. Clair (@stclairashley) October 30, 2024
News of Biden’s inflammatory remark immediately went viral on social media and eventually reached the podium in Allentown, Pennsylvania, where Trump was holding a rally.
In the clip below, Trump tells the crowd he finds Biden’s comment to be even worse than when Hillary Clinton called half of his supporters a “basket of deplorables” during a 2016 campaign speech.
Trump said, “Remember Hillary? She said ‘deplorable’ and then said ‘irredeemable,’ right? But she said ‘deplorable.’ That didn’t work out. ‘Garbage’ I think is worse.
He continued, “But he doesn’t know – you have to please forgive him. Please forgive him. For he not knoweth what he said,” adding, “And I’m convinced he likes me more than he likes Kamala.”
Trump responds: https://t.co/Zp25d9zO0y
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) October 30, 2024
The story gets worse.
NBC News reporter Gabe Gutierrez broke the story. According to independent writer Jerry Dunleavy, the White House gave Gutierrez a copy of the original transcript that said “supporters” (plural), but gave other reporters an ever-so-slightly altered version that added an apostrophe to the word. It said “supporter’s” (singular possessive).
This minor bit of stealth editing changed the meaning of Biden’s remark. Rather than calling Trump’s supporters garbage, the White House would like people to believe that Biden was referring to his supporter’s “fill in the blank,” when he suddenly loses his train of thought, as he often does, in the middle of the sentence.
White House can’t even decide on their spin. In the so-called transcript given to Gabe of NBC News (reporter who broke story), White House claimed Biden said “supporters’” (plural possessive), but in transcript given to Weijia & others, it is “supporter’s” (singular possessive). pic.twitter.com/jiHYI5ZWhU
— Jerry Dunleavy IV 🇺🇸 (@JerryDunleavy) October 30, 2024
Attaching the new, improved version (that included the apostrophe), Politico’s White House bureau chief Jonathan Lemire, posted “the full Biden quote” on X. He claimed the quote was “being taken out of context.”
But unfortunately for Lemire, Biden can clearly be heard on the Zoom call saying, “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.” It simply wouldn’t make sense – even in Bidenspeak – to say “supporter’s” in this context.
The full Biden quote from the Zoom tonight, which is being taken out of context: pic.twitter.com/fHT9PvVjiO
— Jonathan Lemire (@JonLemire) October 30, 2024
Lemire, who was caught editing the quote to try to help Kamala and Biden, wants you to read his transcript rather than the now widely-available videohttps://t.co/D6zGRBMX8j https://t.co/IwisMkuhpp
— Sunny (@sunnyright) October 30, 2024
It was a valiant effort, but considering that a video of the call is all over the internet, Lemire wasn’t fooling anyone. One wonders why a smart man would risk his journalistic integrity over this. Oh – that’s right.
The Trump War Room reported that not even CNN was buying the spin.
Even CNN isn't buying the pathetic spin from Harris-Biden allies after Biden called Trump supporters "garbage": "It's hard to really look at that when you can listen to it for yourself." pic.twitter.com/vJoypAc1KE
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 30, 2024
Senior Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller weighed in.
Hell hath no fury like a Biden scorned. https://t.co/41gk3wBztt
— Jason Miller (@JasonMillerinDC) October 30, 2024
Before calling a lid, Team Biden made a final attempt at damage control. But it was way too late for that.
Earlier today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump's supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage—which is the only word I can think of to describe it. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That's all I meant to say. The…
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 30, 2024
As I see it, apostrophegate rather ends the Hinchcliffe story as a problem for the Trump campaign. And lays it squarely at the feet of Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. So much for Harris’s promise just hours earlier to be the president for all Americans during her much ballyhooed speech on the Ellipse.
Biden’s comment will also give fodder to those who believe he is trying to sabotage the Harris-Walz campaign.
Elizabeth writes commentary for The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a member of the Editorial Board at The Sixteenth Council, a London think tank. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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Comments
Poor Joe Biden has a stutter. That’s why he wished people a winter of severe illness and death. It isn’t easy being a moron President.
I’m just thankful for the other save — we came within a hair’s breadth of hearing Joe claim he was brought up in Puerto Rico.
“Listen up, Jack … An insult comic’s bad joke that no one laughed at is unforgivable – but it’s okay for me as President to demonize and dehumanize 80 million voters. Ok?”
Message received.
.
Apostrophegate, indeed. The level of shameless hackery 99% of the mainstream media will engage in to protect Democrats is only eclipsed by the revulsion and contempt it feels for anyone to the right of Fidel Castro. This is Leni Riefenstahl-level agitprop.
It absolutely is Leni Riefenstahl-level agitprop.. I’m amazed that so many people believe it.
Nobody is offended by any of it. It’s fake offense for the benefit of pundits to spin to an audience that agrees to pretend to care, as part of the narrative as life structure.
Comedian tells joke and the response is an ad hominem. The other side responds with an ad hominem. That’s the way political argument is done these days. Hegel hadn’t seen that coming. Thesis, antithesis, synthesis goes cancel culture. Thesis, ad hominem, ad hominem.
I’m not sure I would say I am offended by it but it does accurately show how he feels. I’m thinking of going to my Early Voting Location (which still have long lines) here in Jersey wearing a 30 gallon trash bag around my neck like a poncho as a sign of support.
Eventually, a pile of **** becomes too large to be covered up by anything…
But right now it’s Kamala who owns that problem.
I had never heard of this Hinchcliffe person before. Now he is probably famous for a tasteless joke.
He’s a reasonably famous stand-up comic who specializes in insult comedy. He’s been a fixture on the ‘roast circuit’ for a decade and has worked with Joe Rogan (both opening for Rogan and working on his podcast) for at least as long. If a person is a fan of stand-up and/or celebrity roasts, they would definitely know who he is. A couple months ago, he created another viral moment when he said some less-than-charitable things about Tom Brady’s wife Giselle, during Brady’s roast which Brady did not care for. He also made some gay jokes while appearing on ESPN’s Game Day…which of course weren’t received well.
With this reputation, whomever booked this guy into the MSG event should be fired.
Yeah, particularly after the ESPN Game Day fiasco. I think the guy is hysterical. But, he’s not the kind of hysterical you want anywhere near a political campaign…in its last week.
Yeah, totally agree. Anyone who watched him for 5 min should have known his style was pure dynamite.
I’m so old I remember when “dynamite” was a compliment when bestowed on a comedian.
Sigh. Now he does late-night Medicare ads on geezer channels.
I see. My appreciation for a good SU comedian stopped with Rodney Dangerfield..
What about George Carlin? Despite his unfortunate leftist leanings, I have to admit that the guy has some very funny material.
Just re-watched “Back to School” (it’s free on YouTube, right now; no ads, if you have YouTube Premium) — still holds up as a great comedy.
It isn’t a tasteless joke if you understand the context and have a sense of humor.
I gotta say, if somebody had asked me whether or not PR was having a garbage problem, I would have thrown my hands up. It’s like tossing geek humor at the College of Cardinals.
Knowing that the vile Dhimmi-crats are always angling to create controversy out of anything, it was a stupid decision to allow this comedian on stage, knowing that these people often go unfiltered and off-program. We have to be smarter than this and stop giving these opposition pukes ammunition.
A little more campaign discipline in this regard would be nice.
I still think Trump=Vance wins the election, but, these sideshow distractions and own-goals are frustrating.
Make Jokes Great Again! DEI is making us joyless.
I get it. It’s just, in the current environment, in a very tight race, when President Trump is already unfairly vilified and tarnished as (on any given day), an alleged racist, alleged Nazi, alleged xenophobe, having a comedian on stage making racial jokes is tactically stupid.
Have this guy perform after Trump-Vance wins; that would be smarter, as a middle finger trolling stunt.
New York Times print edition headline is “If Donald J. Trump wins, he is ready to radically reshape American government from the moment he regains the White House.”
.. you don’t have to convince me, I already decided to vote for Trump
It’s to the point that every time they claim that he will cancel all elections and become a dictator for life, I’m almost ready to stand up and applaud.
Biden is way over due a bitch slapping.
I’m still enjoying the one he got from his own puppeteers.
This garbage seems to have steped on this other message …
https://x.com/TheCalvinCooli1/status/1851412148460626109
Absurd as it is, I’ve heard Rep. Debbie Dingell, that repellent Alexander Vindman, and others making the same claim in the last couple of days.
+1 for using the perfect word to describe scheming fat toad Alexander Vindman: repellent.
“What is your response?”
“Where mah s’mores? I’m entitled to s’mores!”
Being a deplorable, I can’t say that I’ve had the opportunity to attend an elite DC cocktail party but I suspect it’s considered the height of wit at such gatherings to label Trump supporters as “trash.”
Democrats have become the pinch-faced charicatures made popular by New Yorker magazine.
Sherlock Holmes would not accept this explanation. Indeed, he might call it the curious case of the ellipsis that didn’t appear to the right.
My wife and I are looking for some matching, holiday T-shirts saying Garbage Granny and Deplorable Dad.
What about “bitter clinger?”
“Irredeemably deplorable, bitterly clinging to my guns, religion and garbage.”
Let’s add “Ultra-MAGA” in there, somewhere. 🙂
One word on each shirt, so one is the “Bitter” and the other is the “Clinger”.
“bitter clinger”
For the 1yo grandbaby!
Another instance of Trump jujitsu, in which the Dems attacks on him are leveraged against the attackers. Thanks, judoku Joe!
dnc:
garbage is deplorable
And tastes bitter. Also clings to stuff.
Where is Victor Borge’s “Phonetic Pronunciation” when you need it?
https://youtu.be/TIf3IfHCoiE?si=mxFKqFFD7d36gTlh
I think that for the majority of people paying attention this just solidifies their view of the censorious left. No humor or unapproved comments will be allowed.
Q: How many transes does it take to change a light bulb?
A: THAT’S NOT FUNNY!
This is like a joke on the animated comedy Archer, the only show of its kind that focuses on grammar.
As a former teacher I would have red penned Awkward the use of the singular possessive “supporter’s” in that place in the sentence.
Biden wasn’t using the possessive. The transcript “editor” stuck it in.
Why didn’t they just change the words? They do it all the time. Even to words that we all heard just as clearly as we heard these. They don’t care. They don’t have to. They’re the Phony Company.
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