WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden took a swipe at Donald Trump’s supporters as he responded to the Republican presidential candidates weekend rally at Madison Square Garden, which was overshadowed by crude and racist rhetoric.

Biden responded on Tuesday to a call organized by the Spanish advocacy group Voto Latino a comic strip at Trump’s rally, he called Puerto Rico a “floating island of trash.” Biden’s first remarks were garbled.

“Recently, a speaker at his meeting called Puerto Rico a floating island of trash. Well, let me tell you something, I don’t know the Puerto Rican I know, the Puerto Rico I come from – in my home state of Delaware. They are good, decent, honorable people,” he said.

The president then added: “The only trash I see floating out there are his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and un-American. It’s completely at odds with everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”

White House spokesman Andrew Bates said Biden “called the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally ‘trash’.”

Biden then took to social media to personally clarify what he said.

“Earlier today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by the Trump supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as nonsense – which is the only word I can think of to describe it,” he posted on X. “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I wanted to say. The comments at that meeting do not reflect who we are as a nation.”

However, by calling Trump’s supporters “trash”, Biden’s tone was at odds with the message that Democratic candidate Kamala Harris is trying to present, as she wants to make a broad appeal, including to disaffected Republicans. Shortly after Biden’s comments, Harris spoke from the Ellipse in Washington and vowed to be a president who would unite the country.

“I promise to be a president for all Americans,” said Harris, Biden’s vice president.

Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, said the campaign’s message of unity was not undermined by Biden’s words.

Walz said Wednesday on “CBS Mornings” that the president “was very clear that he was talking about the rhetoric that we heard, so it’s not being undermined.” Walz added on ABC’s Good Morning America that he and Harris have “made it absolutely clear that we want everyone involved in this. Donald Trump’s divisive rhetoric must end.”

Republicans were quick to highlight Biden’s comment. Trump called Florida Sen. Marco Rubio at his rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, to talk about what happened.

“A moment ago, Joe Biden declared that our supporters, our patriots, are trash,” Rubio said. “He’s talking about ordinary Americans who love their country.”

Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a subsequent statement: “There’s no way to get it wrong: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris not only hate President Trump, they despise the tens of millions of Americans who support him.”

A Trump campaign fundraiser read: “KAMALA’S BOSS JOE BIDEN CALLED ALL MY SUPPORTERS TRAP!” before assuring recipients that Trump himself is thinking, “YOU ARE AWESOME!”

Even some prominent Democrats began to distance themselves from Biden’s comments. Speaking on CNN, Governor of Pennsylvania. Josh Shapiro said he would “never insult the good people of Pennsylvania or any American, even if they chose to support a candidate I did not support.”

The comments remembered the then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton reject Trump supporters at a fundraiser in New York in 2016 by saying that half in a ‘ basket of regrets.”

Clinton later called that characterization “very generalistic.” But it became a defiant rallying cry for many Trump supporters, who said the insult encapsulated the elitist attitudes of Clinton and the Democrats.

As backlash over Biden’s response began to mount, Trump was asked about the racist and vulgar joke during his rally in New York in an interview with Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity on Tuesday evening. He replied: “Someone said there was a comedian who was making fun of Puerto Rico or something. And I have no idea who he is.”

The former president added: “I can’t imagine this is a big deal.”

At a rally Tuesday in Allentown, Pennsylvania, a city with a large Latin American population, Trump repeated his claim that Biden’s immigration policies have allowed other countries to treat the U.S. like “a giant garbage can.”

With Election Day just a week away, Biden has been working on that maintain relevancein which he furiously promoted his administration’s achievements while Harris was in her race against Trump.

But his efforts to stay in the political spotlight may not always be so helpful to the top of the Democratic ticket he is now promoting. That’s because Harris has been sharply critical of Trump for months, repeatedly calling him “unstable” and “unhinged” and even suggesting that he ” fascist”, she has been careful not to disapprove of his supporters.

In fact, the vice president has campaigned extensively with former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney and other former Republican Party elected officials — hoping to sway conservative voters. The Democratic convention — and Harris ads — have highlighted the stories of everyday Americans who said they voted for Trump in the past but now say they support the vice president.

During Tuesday’s call, Biden also said Trump “doesn’t give a damn about the Latino community” and urged rejection of the former president, even as Trump’s campaign says support among Hispanics, especially men, is increasing.

“Vote to keep Donald Trump out of the White House,” Biden said. “He is a real danger, not just to Latinos, but to all people. Especially those who are in the minority in this country.”