Joe Biden's “garbage” gaffe should never have happened

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Joe has to go.

Talk to just about any professional Democrat in Washington, or with any state party, or even in a local utility commission race, and that's the overwhelming and increasingly contemptuous verdict when it comes to President Joe Biden in the final days of an even tougher stretch -should be a race for the White House. Biden, a long-known gaffe-maker who has repeatedly derailed the best-laid plans with verbal outbursts, was largely relegated to campaign emeritus status when his vice president took up the nomination in July and has done her best to stay loyal to her boss. But with Biden's latest foray — he sounded like he was calling Trump supporters “trash” — it's becoming increasingly clear that the instinct to humor the president comes at a price.

Indeed, even in these final days, Harris may need to address Biden's spooky attitude if her attempt to block Trump is to have an even chance. It will be uncomfortable for both Harris and her staff, but Biden's sentiments cannot replace Democrats' political needs at this fragile moment. There is too much at stake and Biden is too unpredictable and too desperate to prove he is more than just a placeholder in a gold-plated locker. In fact, at this point in his presidency, Biden has the lowest approval rating of any president since George HW Bush headed for defeat in 1992. His latest slip-up only further digs the hole he finds himself in.

“Trash” wasn’t a word many of us had on our campaign BINGO cards, but twice in the last ten days it has emerged as a potentially race-changing statement. First, a comedian who spoke at Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden inserted into his lewd and racist routine the observation that Puerto Rico is a “floating island of trash.” Trump tried to portray Sunday's remarks as something he had no knowledge of, even though his advisers had reviewed the routine. The political damage was done.

But then, two days later and about a half-hour before Harris was scheduled to deliver a masterful closing argument with the South Front of the White House as a backdrop, Biden tried to cheer Latino supporters in a call from the White House residence. (Campaign rallies cannot be held in the West Wing, guaranteeing that Biden would not be in the Oval Office while Harris spoke. Keen-eyed observers of Harris' speech picked up some symbolism in the darkened Oval Office behind her: A Harris administration would be a… (News Ding, not a continuation of the current.) As Biden brought up his vice president and belittled his predecessor, he addressed the uproar over Trump's comic. What was intended to be a comment denouncing the comedian's rhetoric toward Puerto Rico instead turned into a blunder that seemed to know no bounds. Biden sounded like he was calling Trump's supporters “trash,” even as a crisis-ridden White House circulated a transcript that suggested the president was calling the rhetoric, not the supporters, “trash.” , which they cheered.

The White House paraphrased the comment as follows: “The only garbage I see floating out there is that of his supporters – his – his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and un-American.” Trump's allies claim with full performative outrage that the purge in the White House was intended to cover up what Biden did Strictly speaking said: “his supporters” – no apostrophe. It's impossible to say what exactly Biden meant in that moment, although given his half-century in public life, it was probably more of a stammer and stammer than a slander.

Still, that's not where Harris wanted to be. A day after an uplifting and unifying speech on the White House grounds and before a massive crowd, Harris risked her promise to work for all Americans and be the antithesis of Trump, who came across as hollow. And her campaign team knew it. On Wednesday, she told reporters traveling with her from Andrews Air Force Base that Biden had “clarified” his comment but had distanced himself from her boss more than ever before: “Let me be clear: I disagree with any criticism, based on people.” about who they vote for.”

It did little to calm the chaos when Trump donned a sanitation vest and rode in a garbage truck at a campaign stop in Wisconsin later that day. In a way, Biden's attempt to help actually silenced the actual “garbage” remark and injected a red-hot misstep into the messaging that should never have surfaced.

Democrats have long tolerated Biden's complete lack of verbal discipline. As a senator, he was a guaranteed gaffe on the Hill, often contradicting party leadership, thwarting his colleagues' long-held plans and sabotaging his Democratic colleagues in the White House. His first bid for the White House ended in a plagiarism scandal, his second began with comments disparaging Barack Obama, who later named Biden his stalwart global ambassador. As vice president, Biden made a number of unforced errors, most notably during the signing of a bill for the law now known as Obamacare, where he was caught on a hot mic using profanity.

Biden's allies have tried, with varying degrees of success, to make such unscripted moments part of the Biden brand, an authenticity that is often missing. The twist turned him into a ridiculous Uncle Joe, a cartoon who likes aviators and ice cream. But the front lasted only so long, and a disastrous anti-Trump debate in June sparked weeks of recriminations about the 81-year-old Biden's ability to win, let alone serve another four years. Eventually, Biden realized reality, endorsed Harris as his heir, and nursed his bruised ego. Biden's loose tongue ultimately proved to be his undoing.

But Biden still holds the top job in geopolitics and is still nominally the head of the Democratic Party. He made the largest investment in green technology in U.S. history, helped the global economy out of recession and passed the infrastructure bill that Trump was never able to achieve. The problem is this: No one has the heart to tell him that his presidency is slipping into lame-duck status with each passing week, especially as an absent Congress considers its own reelection bids. When Democrats gathered in Chicago to formally nominate Harris, Biden's presence was the awkward relative who had to be invited to the wedding, but no one wanted to sit next to him. His 52-minute speech never seemed to end as delegates alternated between respectful and restless. “It was sad to watch him. He didn’t realize that everyone else had already turned the tide,” says a former Biden adviser who was there. “No one had the courage or heart to tell him that the crowd wasn’t there for him.”

In the past few weeks, Biden has been itching to finally take to the streets, according to those in his orbit. He still believes he alone has the unraveler for white, working-class voters who were muted toward Democrats and even more muted toward Harris, who will go down in history as the first woman and second person of color elected to the presidency would. Biden repeatedly asks his staff to check with the Harris campaign — which has taken over Biden's own offices in Wilmington as part of an efficient takeover — about where he could be helpful.

And with respectful consistency, Wilmington sent a clear message to the White House: We'll let you know. This is a particularly unpleasant rebuff, especially since so many members of the Harris high command were originally hired as Biden's agents. Middle Joe will have to remain Second Joe in this final inning, no matter how overloaded both camps are at the moment.

Biden's braintrust insists they get it, even if their longtime boss is slower to recognize it. You see a friend who is a few steps away from his best game and was never flawless at his peak. His “garbage” gaffe was just the latest such mistake. During a visit to New Hampshire last week, he said of Trump, “We have to lock him up,” before quickly adding, “Lock him up politically.” Lock him out. It was catnip for conservatives who believe Trump's claims that Biden has weaponized the justice system against him.

Then on Friday, Biden appeared to suggest that former Rep. Gabby Giffords was dead. She is not, having survived an assassination attempt and still leading the vanguard anti-gun violence group in the country that bears her name.

If any of these missteps were separate events, it would be reasonable to describe them as a tired man showing his age. But it's been that way for a long time, even if Biden hasn't accepted it. Biden believes that elites and the press are focusing too much on his gaffes and ignoring the mistakes made by Trump and others. For the increasingly thin-skinned Biden, despite his good intentions, he is being bullied again.

So, as we enter the final weekend before Election Day, a sidelined and chastened president will have to sit on the bench and deprive Harris of the vast machinery she inherited from him. Biden, for his part, is planning a trip Friday to visit union members in Philadelphia, something of a second home base for the Bidens across the river from Delaware. Significantly, however, this event is an official White House event and not a Harris campaign event. Biden simply does not seem to understand a maxim of all performative endeavors, including politics: the greatest know when to leave the stage.

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