Biden goes off script with 'garbage' comments days before election

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden tried very publicly to rein himself in. “Don’t go, Joe. “Slow down,” he advised himself during a speech in which he criticized Republican Donald Trump.

That was Tuesday afternoon. But that evening, Biden didn't heed his own advice, and now his off-the-cuff remark on a Zoom campaign call has caused a new headache Democratic candidate Kamala Harris less than a week before Election Day.

It's not the first time Biden has caused problems by going off script. But the latest incident was a particular distraction, just as Harris attempted to deliver a widely publicized “closing speech” to her campaign in which she stressed the need to unite the country in the wake of Trump's divisions.

Shortly beforehand, Harris wanted to speak on Tuesday evening During a huge crowd on a lawn not far from the White House, Biden called and commented on a Hispanic advocacy group a comic Current insults at a Trump rally where he called Puerto Rico a “floating island of trash.”

Biden said: “The only trash I see floating out there is his supporters.”

The president quickly sent out a social media post to clarify his comments about Trump. “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable,” Biden said. “That’s all I wanted to say.”

But his harsh words were quickly seized upon by Republicans, who said he was denigrating Trump supporters.

Biden, who withdrew from the presidential race in July after a disastrous performance in the debate and a near-mutiny within his own party, has largely disappeared from the campaign trail since then. But eager to maintain his relevance and cement his legacy, he has stepped up his political activities in recent days although many in his party apparently remain at a distance from him.

Harris, for her part, has tried to distance herself from her unpopular boss. And she has actively courted Republican voters.

Biden's comments were cause Harris to say on Tuesday that she strongly disagrees with “any criticism of people based on who they vote for.”

Her aides were already frustrated last week by another gaffe from Biden when he spoke about Trump and told Democratic campaign workers in New Hampshire: “We have to lock him up.”

He quickly added: “Lock him up politically. Lock him out. This is what we have to do.”

Harris supporters often chant “Lock him up,” a reference to this, at their rallies Trump's many ongoing criminal cases but also a nod to his own campaign against Hillary Clinton in 2016, when his supporters chanted “Lock her up.”

Harris always silences the singing and tells the crowd, “The courts will take care of it. We’ll take care of it in November.”

Biden has also gotten involved in their events at times. He gave a surprise address to reporters in the White House briefing room just as Harris was about to take the stage in Michigan. and spoke from the Oval Office To Hurricane HeleneHarris just canceled campaign events in Las Vegas to return to Washington for a briefing at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

He was also wrong about who was running for president.

“We still have work to do, Kamala and I – Kamala – Kamala done,” Biden said last weekend.

On Tuesday, Biden was hosting a port infrastructure event in Baltimore when he moved to criticize Trump and casually brought up the Puerto Rican comments he made at the rally.

He pointed to new funding to “modernize ports in 27 different states and territories, from Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and beyond – including, yes, Puerto Rico.”

Then he said of Trump: “I’d like to take that guy out there swimming.”