President Biden made a series of gaffes, mistakes and surprising comments while Vice President Kamala Harris rallied national support for her run for the Oval Office.
Biden campaigned for and endorsed Harris this cycle, but amid the roughly 100-day Harris-Walz campaign, he also made a series of mistakes that likely hurt her chances of winning the election. Biden initially ran for re-election this year before dropping out in July as concerns mounted over his mental acuity and age.
Fox News Digital examined the last roughly 100 days of the campaign cycle and compiled the top missteps and surprising comments that became fodder for the Trump campaign before the 45th president sailed to re-election on Tuesday.
BIDEN CONGRATULATES TRUMP, PLEDGES ‘PEACEFUL AND ORDERLY’ TRANSFER OF POWER
Biden calls Trump supporters ‘garbage’
“Donald Trump has no character. He doesn’t give a damn about the Latino community,” Biden said during a campaign call at the White House. “Just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage.
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.”
WHITE HOUSE ALTERED BIDEN’S ‘GARBAGE’ TRANSCRIPT DESPITE CONCERNS FROM STENOGRAPHERS
Biden’s comments set off a lightning storm of criticism from Republicans nationwide, with some comparing it to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” comment during a fundraiser during her failed 2016 campaign, which was viewed as likely undermining her campaign.
The White House attempted to backtrack on Biden’s comment, saying it was in reference specifically to remarks made during Trump’s massive Madison Square Garden rally. Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, host of the popular podcast “Kill Tony,” sparked backlash after he cracked a joke hours ahead of Trump taking the stage at Madison Square Garden that Puerto Rico is a “floating island of garbage.”
“Earlier today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporters at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage — which is the only word I can think of to describe it,” Biden wrote in a post on X. “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say. The comments at that rally don’t reflect who we are as a nation.”
President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Despite efforts to walk the comments back, Trump and his campaign leaned into the derogatory comment, with Trump donning a bright orange sanitization vest and climbing into a “MAGA”-decorated trash truck during a Wisconsin campaign event.
Biden wears a Trump hat while speaking to voters
Biden went viral on social media in September, when he visited Pennsylvania voters at the Shanksville Fire Station on the anniversary of 9/11, after participating in a wreath-laying ceremony at the town’s memorial site for United Airlines Flight 93.
BIDEN SHOCKS THE INTERNET BY DONNING TRUMP 2024 HAT: ‘THIS ISN’T AI’
While in the firehouse, he spoke with a Trump supporter and decided to put the man’s pro-Trump hat on his head.
“BREAKING: Kamala did so bad in last night’s debate, Joe Biden just put on a Trump hat,” the Trump war room said on X of the footage.
“At this point even Joe Biden is voting for President Trump,” State of Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis quipped online.
“Joe Biden just put on a Trump 2024 campaign cap. This is not a joke… he really did,” broadcaster Piers Morgan wrote, with an emoji of a monkey covering its eyes.
The White House also confirmed the footage was real and defended the bizarre scene as Biden spreading a message of unity to voters.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at the Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum on the campus of East Carolina University on Oct. 13, 2024 in Greenville, North Carolina. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
“At the Shanksville Fire Station, @POTUS spoke about the country’s bipartisan unity after 9/11 and said we needed to get back to that. As a gesture, he gave a hat to a Trump supporter who then said that in the same spirit, POTUS should put on his Trump cap. He briefly wore it,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates wrote on X.
In another unexpected wardrobe choice, first lady Jill Biden set social media ablaze earlier this week when she wore red-colored pantsuit to vote on Tuesday. Red is the color of the Republican Party, sparking commenters to joke that perhaps Jill Biden voted for Trump as a protest to Democrats calling on President Biden to exit the presidential race over the summer.
Biden’s surprising remarks on a Republican governor’s handling of hurricane
As two hurricanes ripped through the southeast U.S. in October, Harris slammed Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ response to the natural disasters, with her campaign claiming his office denied phone calls from the Harris team.
“People are in desperate need of support right now and playing political games with this moment, in these crisis situations, these are the height of emergency situations, it’s just utterly irresponsible, and it is selfish,” Harris told reporters of DeSantis.
Biden declared a day after Harris’ remarks that the GOP governor was doing a “great job” and thanked him for his efforts to assist Floridians.
“The governor of Florida has been cooperative. He said he’s gotten all that he needs. I talked to him again yesterday, and I said – no – you’re doing a great job, it’s all being done well, and we thank you for it,” Biden said. “There was a rough start in some places, but every governor, every governor – from Florida to North Carolina – has been fully cooperative and supportive.”
DeSantis later shot back at Harris’ claims that he was playing politics with the storm, accusing her of being the actual culprit of engaging in political gamesmanship.
“I’ve worked on these hurricanes under both President Trump and President Biden. Neither of them ever tried to politicize it. She has never called on any of the storms we’ve had since she’s been vice president until apparently now,” DeSantis said. “Why, all of the sudden, is she trying to parachute in and inject herself when she’s never shown any interest in the past? We know it’s because of politics, we know it’s because of her campaign.”
“Harris is not even in the chain of command. She has no role in this,” DeSantis added. “The idea that I should be, like, worrying about her when I’m focused on the task at hand is just quite frankly absurd.”
Biden bites a baby at a Halloween party
In another surprising incident during the election cycle, Biden was caught on camera playfully biting babies dressed in Halloween costumes at a trick-or-treat event last month. Biden playfully biting the babies unfolded as Trump campaigned in Wisconsin while dressed in the sanitization vest in rebuke of Biden’s “garbage” comment.
BIDEN SEEN BITING BABIES IN-COSTUME AT WHITE HOUSE HALLOWEEN EVENT
TRUMP VOWS TO LEAD ‘GOLDEN AGE OF AMERICA’ IN VICTORY SPEECH: ‘FIX EVERYTHING’
Former President Donald Trump arrives to speak during an election night event at the Palm Beach Convention Center on Nov. 6, 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Trump secured the massive election win early Wednesday morning, after key battleground states such as Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia voted in his favor.
“Every citizen, I will fight for you, for your family and your future. Every single day, I will be fighting for you. And with every breath in my body, I will not rest until we have delivered the strong, safe and prosperous America that our children deserve and that you deserve. This will truly be the golden age of America. That’s what we have to have. This is a magnificent victory for the American people that will allow us to make America great again,” Trump said during his victory speech in the dead of night.
President Biden departs the Rose Garden after speaking on the 2024 election in the Rose Garden on Nov. 7, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Harris held an election watch party at her alma mater, Howard University, in Washington, D.C., but did not publicly join her supporters as the election results began trending in Trump’s direction. Biden spent the night of the election at the White House, skipping the party.
Fox News Digital’s Alec Schemmel and Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.