The White House was wrong to change the transcript of President Joe Biden’s “garbage” comment, but the GOP’s faux outrage over this “scandal” is more than disingenuous.
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Never before have so many who know so little about grammar cared so much about an apostrophe. That is one of the main takeaways of the uproar that an AP report about the altering of a White House transcript caused among Donald Trump’s supporters.
Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat: The White House should not have altered the official transcript by inserting an apostrophe in the word “supporters.”
Sure, one can see why the press office did so after talking to President Joe Biden. The version it released probably corresponds more closely to what he meant.
In the full context of the remarks, it seems much more likely that he was not trashing all Trump supporters, but rather that he meant to convey that the statement referring to Puerto Rico as “a floating island of garbage,” as well as the demonization of Latinos in general, was wrong.
Judge for yourself, taking into account that the speaker is a very old man who had to overcome a speech impediment.
And just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” Well, let me tell you something. I don’t — I — I don’t know the Puerto Rican that — that I know — or a Puerto Rico, where I’m fr- — in my home state of Delaware, they’re good, decent, honorable people. The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters* — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.
(* This is the part the press office changed to “supporter’s”)
So, it makes sense that the White House would like to stave off this “scandal” by releasing a transcript that reflects what Biden claimed he wanted to say.
However, presidents are not judged by what they meant to say but rather by what they actually say.
For example, if Ronald Reagan had said “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this ball,” it would have been wrong to change the transcript to “wall.”
One notable exception is Trump himself, of course, who routinely says the dumbest things that his supporters and handlers then have to clean up by explaining what he meant. This does not just apply to the campaign trail but also to his four years in office.
That is why it is quite ironic that Republicans are trying to make such a big deal out of this.
This is also understandable. Biden’s comment has allowed them to change the news cycle from something damaging (the Madison Square Garden Hatefest) to something that will get GOP voters riled up and to the polls.
As per usual, though, they overshot the mark (not that the right-wing media will care), as exemplified in this case by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).
“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ disdain for HALF of America was exposed when Biden said Trump supporters are ‘garbage.’ They won’t apologize because they actually believe that, and changing the official transcript won’t erase the truth,” he tweeted.
Funny that he would invoke “the truth” after so blatantly lying.
First of all, this was Biden saying something, so Vice President Kamala Harris was not involved in any way. And, as noted above, it seems very likely that he was not referring to all Trump supporters, which, by the way, do not constitute “half” of America.
Finally, Harris quickly stated that she “strongly disagrees with any criticism of people based on who they vote for.”
In other words, just about everything Johnson said was a lie.
He was not the only one.
One upside is that the GOP’s low-information voters may finally learn something about grammar (which they certainly won’t from Trump’s own social media posts).
In his Navigating the Insanity columns, Klaus Marre provides the kind of hard-hitting, thought-provoking, and often humorous analysis you won’t find anywhere else.
