CNN
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Donald Trump broke out the props in the final days of this chaotic campaign on Wednesday when the former president seized on a garbled comment from President Joe Biden that appeared to insult Trump voters as “trash.”

Trump stepped off his plane ahead of a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, wearing a bright orange and yellow safety vest before climbing into a garbage truck — with a large “TRUMP” sign on the side — to answer questions from reporters.

Biden has personally denied calling Trump supporters “trash,” saying his comments on a video call Tuesday night were misinterpreted. The White House insisted during the cleanup that the president was talking about just one person: the little-known comedian who called Puerto Rico a “floating island of trash” this weekend as he warmed up the crowd at Madison Square Garden for Trump.

Whatever Biden’s intention, Republicans eager to move from resistance to the New York City rally pounced on the comment, with Trump leading the way on the campaign trail.

From the passenger seat of the garbage truck, Trump suggested that Biden’s comment should be attributed to Kamala Harris herself, saying the episode was “worse, actually” than when Hillary Clinton blasted half of Trump supporters during the 2016 campaign described as “regrettable”.

In between attacks on Biden and Harris over the comment, Trump said he didn’t think the military “should be used” to respond to the “enemies within” — the phrase he uses to describe Americans who might protest against his return to office. . He also said he would accept the election results, with one well-known caveat.

“If they don’t find any evidence of cheating anywhere, I’ll accept the results. I hope that will be the case,” Trumps said. “Win, lose or draw, I hope that will be the case.”

Still clad in the high-vis vest, Trump opened his Green Bay rally — one of his last chances to address Wisconsin voters before next week’s election — by speaking at length about the props. He praised his “very capable people” for getting everything done so quickly and then summarized their discussion in advance.

“One of my people came in and said, ‘Sir, you know the word ‘garbage’ is the hottest thing right now. Out there, the hottest thing there is. Sir, would you like to drive a garbage truck? Trump said. “They picked up this garbage truck. I don’t know how the hell they did it so quickly. I have very capable people. They put a big sign on the truck. Have you seen it?”

The former president continued the story, recalling his surprise at the height of the truck and saying he could have used a smaller model. He praised the truck driver’s appearance – “He looked like Cary Grant in his prime” – and admitted he was afraid to climb into the truck with so many cameras watching. At one point, Trump appeared to grab a door handle — and miss.

“I said, ‘Man, if I don’t get there, this is going to be really embarrassing.’ These stupid people will say he is cognitively and physically disabled,” Trump told the crowd in Wisconsin. ‘So the stairs, the first stairs are like above. I say, sh*t – so I had the adrenaline and I did it.”

Harris addressed Biden’s comments earlier Wednesday, telling reporters: “I absolutely disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for.”

“I believe the work I do is about representing all people, whether they support me or not,” Harris said at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. “And as president of the United States, I will be a president for all Americans, whether you vote for me or not.”

Shortly before Harris took the stage at the Ellipse in Washington — the same park where Trump had called on his supporters to “fight like hell” on January 6, 2021 — Biden had lit the fuse in a conversation with pro-Harris Voto Latino advocates.

“And recently, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico ‘a floating island of trash,’” Biden said. “Well, let me tell you something… I don’t know the Puerto Ricans I know… or Puerto Rico where I am – in my home state of Delaware – they are good, decent, honorable people.”

“The only trash I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden added, pausing before continuing: “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and un-American.”

Harris told reporters that she spoke to Biden on Tuesday evening after her speech at the Ellipse in Washington, DC, but that the “garbage” blunder did not come up.

The transcript of the White House call shared with the press shows Biden saying “supporters” – in the singular – not “supporters.”

NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre, who spent most of his career with the Green Bay Packers, spoke for Trump at the rally on Wednesday. He also used the platform to criticize Biden.

“We are not trash,” Favre told the crowd. “How dare (Biden) say that?”

Trump thanked Favre for his support, saying there was “no one like him” and that he was a “special man.”

The former president later broached the subject of women and his previously expressed desire to “protect” them in his own remarks — a message he said his advisers warned him about using.

Defiantly, Trump continued.

“I want to protect the women of our country,” he said. “Well, I’m going to do it whether the women like it or not. I’m going to protect them.”