TGIF: We’re All Garbage

The world is probably ending on Tuesday, as Democracy Dies in Darkness, so this might be the last TG ever written. Let’s make it count. Happy belated Halloween!

→ We’re all garbage: While Kamala Harris stood outside the White House to deliver her closing pitch to America, looking amazing and elegant in a bright white cowl neck (not sorry! She’s a 10!), Joe Biden made his own closing remarks. From a video call at the White House residence, he called Trump supporters feral trash rats. In Biden’s words: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.”

He was responding to a fairly offensive joke said at a Trump rally by a boorish comedian: “I don’t know if you guys know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.” The crowd reaction was mixed to negative. And then Biden said that the only trash is Trumpers—it was like watching the Democrats be handed a gift from Team Trump only to watch them crumple it up and hand it back. 

Right on cue, America’s reporters snapped into action to deny that Biden said exactly what Biden said. He didn’t mean Trump supporters were trash, he meant that they litter, said The Washington Post. 

The White House press office slightly altered the transcript—a “breach of protocol and spoilation of transcript integrity,” according to the White House stenographers—making it seem like he was talking about the supporters’ rubbish, like “Hey, don’t forget your supporters’ garbage should be separated into plastic and paper,” and Politico ran cover. My only question is: Don’t mainstream reporters ever get tired of running interference for Joe and Kamala? Don’t they ever want to just relax, drop their shoulders, and write about the words they say out loud? You can have a hundred delicately placed apostrophes in that sentence; it won’t change the fact that Biden called Trumpers “garbage.” Then he went to the White House Halloween party and bit some costumed babies, which looked really fun. He’s having fun and he’s getting a little loose with the rhetoric. It’s okay!

In response to Biden’s comments, Trump emblazoned a garbage truck with his name, put on a garbage collector outfit (high visibility orange vest), and drove around. He then wore the vest during his entire rally that night. We’re at that stage of the election. I have a weird feeling that by Sunday, someone will be holding a town hall in a dumpster. 

However crazy things get, join me and the rest of The Free Press crew on Tuesday for our election night special live show. Click “notify me” at this link to make sure you don’t miss it.  

→ I told you people to stop calling them Latinxs: Latinos have been abandoning Kamala Harris. And now we may have some clues as to why: They never wanted to be called Latinxs. See, for a few years it was necessary that American Democrats call Latino people Latinxs, despite clear and persistent protests. Why? Because Latino and Latina are gendered words, and binary ones to boot, and the Dems needed a nonbinary way to speak about this population in case any Latinxs use they/them pronouns. Literally the whole group was supposed to accept being renamed for the sake of they/them inclusivity. Needless to say, it didn’t work. And now there is a big, serious study out of Harvard University about how being called Latinx made Latinos turn to Trump. 

From the study: “Using several datasets, we find: Latinos are less likely to support politicians who use ‘Latinx’; Latinos who oppose ‘Latinx’ are less likely to support politicians who used or are associated with ‘Latinx’; Latinos in areas where ‘Latinx’ is more salient are more likely to switch their vote toward Trump between 2016–2020.” Exposure to it was enough. You can imagine scenarios that might do it. One white guy with a man bun says something about “hola, my Latinx brothers,” and all who hear it suddenly decide they must absolutely vote for Trump that very day. You’d think whoever came up with Latinx must feel like whoever forgot to lock the door at Wuhan Institute of Virology upon learning this.