Staff working for Kamala Harris’s campaign are debating whether to break from Joe Biden following his “garbage” smear of the many millions of Americans who support former President Donald Trump, according to the New York Times.
The newspaper reported:
After Mr. Biden’s remark, Harris campaign officials privately gauged whether his comments would require her to disagree with him publicly or support his explanation that the comments were taken out of context, according to people familiar with the internal reaction. They asked for anonymity to discuss private deliberations.
The visceral smear and political gaffe came as Biden was trying to portray Trump as hostile to Latinos. The report from the Associated Press (AP) said:
Ahead of Harris’ [campaign] remarks, Biden is reacted [sic] to a comic calling Puerto Rico garbage at a Trump rally last weekend by saying, “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.”
The uproar over the garbage smear comes after many Harris allies have described Trump’s supporters as fascists and Nazis.
The Washington Post did not mention the potential split with the Harris campaign but noted:
Democrats were not fully united in defending Biden late Tuesday night.
Asked about Biden’s comments on CNN, Josh Shapiro — the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania, a critical swing state for Harris — did not dispute that Biden had disparaged Trump supporters.
“I had not heard that until now … so I’m kind of giving you my fresh reaction to it,” Shapiro said. “I would never insult the good people of Pennsylvania or any Americans even if they chose to support a candidate that I didn’t support.”
Jon Favreau, a progressive closely aligned with Harris and former President Barack Obama, tried to distance the Harris campaign from Biden:
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