President Joe Biden has sought to clarify his comments after appearing to call Donald Trump supporters “trash,” sparking a conservative uproar.

He responded to a comic that drew controversy during a routine at a Trump rally on Sunday, referring to Puerto Rico as a “trash island.”

“The only trash I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden was quoted as initially saying on Tuesday, prompting Republican backlash.

The White House later released a transcript that included an apostrophe and said the president was talking about the words of Trump’s rally comedian, Tony Hinchcliffe, and not tens of millions of Trump supporters.

“The only garbage I see floating around is from the (Trump) supporter … his demonization of Latinos is unacceptable and un-American,” the transcript reads.

Biden himself later addressed his video call with the non-profit Voto Latino, writing on X: “Earlier today I addressed the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by the Trump supporter at his rally in Madison Square Garden, straight up trash – which is the only word I have. can think to describe it.

“His demonization of Latinos is unthinkable. That’s all I wanted to say. The comments at that rally do not reflect who we are as a nation.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at a briefing that Biden “does not view Trump supporters or anyone who supports Trump as trash.”

But Trump supporters seized on the comments, drawing comparisons to a controversial remark by Hillary Clinton in 2016 during Trump’s first candidacy, when she said half of Trump’s supporters were from a “basket of deplorables.”

As the war of words escalated, Trump himself suggested that Kamala Harris – his rival for the White House – was running a “campaign of hate”.

Democrats in turn criticized Trump for lashing out at his own rallies against the “enemy within,” which he said referred to “radical left-wing lunatics” and some Democratic lawmakers.

At his rally in North Carolina on Wednesday, Trump said Biden’s words were “worse” than what Clinton said.

“You know what’s worse than anything? Trash, we are trash,” he said, praising his supporters as “the heart and soul of America.”

Asked about Wednesday’s remark, Harris said Biden had “clarified his comments,” adding, “To be clear, I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for.”

Biden’s comments on the furor threatened to overshadow a rally Tuesday night by Kamala Harris, who is running for the White House as the Democratic nominee after Biden dropped out earlier in the race.

Harris delivered what her campaign called her “closing argument” in Washington DC – the site from which Trump spoke shortly before a riot by his supporters at the US Capitol building on January 6, 2021.

She urged voters to “turn the page on drama and conflict” in American politics.

The Madison Square Garden rally referred to by Biden – during which Hinchcliffe and others sparked offense with a series of comments – was defended by Trump on Tuesday as a “love fest”.

He acknowledged that “somebody said some bad things” but said he didn’t think it was “a big deal”.

Trump stopped short of issuing the apology demanded by prominent figures on the island itself, which is a US territory. A number of Republicans — including from neighborhoods with strong Latino populations — expressed their outrage.

In Philadelphia, in the key state of Pennsylvania, members of the Puerto Rican population of 90,000 told the BBC they would not forget the joke.

Residents of Puerto Rico – a US island territory in the Caribbean – cannot vote in presidential elections, but the large US diaspora can.