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The cardinal rule surely is – say what you like about the candidate but don’t be seen to insult those who chose to vote for that candidate.

Hillary Clinton learned that lesson in 2016 when she dismissed Donald Trump supporters as a “basket of deplorables”.

She had sought, with remarkable clumsiness, to place Trump supporters into “baskets” – those she thought she could win over, and the “deplorables”.

Well, we all know how that went for her.

The question now is whether President Biden has fumbled his way into a “deplorables redux” moment, but worse. Not “deplorables” but “garbage”.

Reacting to the comments by a comedian speaking at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally, Mr Biden said: “A speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage…”

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Biden accused of calling Trump supporters ‘garbage’

“Well, let me tell you something… They’re good, decent, honorable people. The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters… his… his demonisation of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”

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As you might expect, a week out from Election Day, it’s caused something of a stir.

The White House has initiated damage limitation mode claiming the president was talking about the comedian who made the derogatory comments and not Trump’s supporters in general.

Their explanation is in the grammar – that Biden said: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter’s… his… his demonisation of Latinos is unconscionable…”

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Some might say the apostrophe in “supporter’s” is doing some heavy lifting. And so a statement on X from the president sought to clear up the spiralling controversy.

“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 demonisation 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,” the statement on the president’s X account said.

People will make up their own minds and Team Trump is certainly running with it.

His co-campaign manager, Chris LaCivita, quoted Biden on X and said: “Remember @KamalaHarris hates you and they hate the American spirit vote accordingly.”

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Trump’s fiery advisor Stephen Miller, whose own language and rhetoric is deeply controversial, went further: “And with that monstrous ugly venomous disgusting despicable personal attack on 150 million Americans, Joe Biden just ended Kamala’s campaign/hate movement.”

Within a few hours, it was spiralling further.

The Trump campaign rushed out campaign fundraising emails making hay from the apparent gaff.

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What was Kamala Harris’ closing argument?

“You are not garbage! I love you! You are the best our nation has to offer,” an email from Mr Trump to supporters said.

Reporters from Axios asked the White House how they knew President Biden meant “supporter’s” not “supporters”. Had they spoken to Mr Biden to ask him what he meant?

The spokesperson asked to go off the record to give a fuller explanation. Axios declined. The White House didn’t comment further.

Remember early voting is ongoing now across swathes of America – millions are voting right now.

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There is just a week to go until all this is over.

A comment like this, even if clumsy and misconstrued, is not what the Harris campaign needs – especially coming, as it did, just as she finished her end-of-campaign speech in Washington DC.

In a campaign where so many are locked in, will it move the dial? The Democrats’ immediate damage limitation and the Republicans’ glee certainly suggest they both think it could.

It’s a head-in-hands moment for Kamala Harris, no question.

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Anti-Trump protests sweep America for the second time in weeks

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Anti-Trump protests sweep America for the second time in weeks

Anti-Trump protests took place across America on Saturday, with demonstrators decrying the administration’s immigration crackdown and mass firings at government agencies. 

Events ranged from small local marches to a rally in front of the White House and a demonstration at a Massachusetts commemoration of the start of the Revolutionary War 250 years ago.

Thomas Bassford, 80, was at the battle reenactment with his two grandsons, as well as his partner and daughter.

He said: “This is a very perilous time in America for liberty. I wanted the boys to learn about the origins of this country and that sometimes we have to fight for freedom.”

At events across the country, people carried banners with slogans including “Trump fascist regime must go now!”, “No fear, no hate, no ICE in our state,” and “Fight fiercely, Harvard, fight,” referencing the university’s recent refusal to hand over much of its control to the government.

Some signs name-checked Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadorian citizen living in Maryland, who the Justice Department admits was mistakenly deported to his home country.

Read more: Donald Trump’s deportations explained

Pic: AP
Image:
Pic: AP

People waved US flags, some of them held upside down to signal distress. In San Francisco, hundreds of people spelt out “Impeach & Remove” on a beach, also with an inverted US flag.

People walked through downtown Anchorage in Alaska with handmade signs listing reasons why they were demonstrating, including one that read: “No sign is BIG enough to list ALL of the reasons I’m here!”

Pic: AP
Image:
Pic: AP


Protests also took place outside Tesla car dealerships against the role Elon Musk ahas played in downsizing the federal government as de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The protests come just two weeks after similar nationwide demonstrations.

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Organisers are opposing what they call Mr Trump’s civil rights violations and constitutional violations, including efforts to deport scores of immigrants and to scale back the federal government by firing thousands of government workers and effectively shuttering entire agencies.

The Trump administration, among other things, has moved to shutter Social Security Administration field offices, cut funding for government health programs and scale back protections for transgender people.

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Day 91: Q&A – deportations, dollar bills and MAGA hats

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Day 91: Q&A - deportations, dollar bills and MAGA hats

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On Day 91, our US correspondents James Matthews and David Blevins tackle listeners’ questions.

Is Trump’s El Salvador deportation plan good business? Could President Trump put his face on a dollar bill? And are MAGA hats made in China?

If you’ve got a question you’d like the TRUMP100 team to answer, you can email it to trump100@sky.uk.

Don’t forget, you can also watch all episodes on our YouTube channel.

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JD Vance has ‘quick and private’ meeting with the Pope during visit to Rome

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JD Vance has 'quick and private' meeting with the Pope during visit to Rome

US vice president JD Vance has met with Pope Francis.

The “quick and private” meeting took place at the Pope’s residence, Casa Santa Marta, in Vatican City, sources told Sky News.

The meeting came amid tensions between the Vatican and the Trump administration over the US president’s crackdown on migrants and cuts to international aid.

No further details have been released on the meeting between the vice president and the Pope, who has been recovering following weeks in hospital with double pneumonia.

Mr Vance, who is in Rome with his family, also met with the Vatican’s number two, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and the foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher.

The Vatican said there had been “an exchange of opinions” over international conflicts, migrants and prisoners.

According to a statement, the two sides had “cordial talks” and the Vatican expressed satisfaction with the Trump administration’s commitment to protecting freedom of religion and conscience.

“There was an exchange of opinions on the international situation, especially regarding countries affected by war, political tensions and difficult humanitarian situations, with particular attention to migrants, refugees and prisoners,” the statement said.

Francis has previously called the Trump administration’s deportation plans a “disgrace”.

Read more from Sky News:
US VP meets Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni

Trump: Putin not playing me – but I might give up on peace talks

Mr Vance, who became Catholic in 2019, has cited medieval-era Catholic teaching to justify the immigration crackdown.

The pope rebutted the theological concept Mr Vance used to defend the crackdown in an unusual open letter to the US
Catholic bishops about the Trump administration in February, and called Mr Trump’s plan a “major crisis” for the US.

“What is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and
will end badly,” the Pope said in the letter.

Mr Vance has acknowledged Francis’s criticism but said he would continue to defend his views. During an appearance in late February at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, he did not address the issue specifically but called himself a “baby Catholic” and acknowledged there were “things about the faith that I don’t know”.

While he had criticised Francis on social media in the past, recently he has posted prayers for the pontiff’s recovery.

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