The White House launched into panic mode on Tuesday night after President Biden referred to Donald Trump supporters as 'garbage'.

The president was speaking to a Latino advocacy group when he made the boneheaded gaffe that drew instant comparisons to Hillary Clinton's infamous dismissal of Trump voters as 'deplorables' in 2016. 

'Just the other day, a speaker at his (Trump's) rally called Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage,"' Biden, 81, reiterated to a Latino advocacy group.

'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.'

In a desperate attempt to clean up the president's mess, a White House spokesperson issued a damage control statement that added an apostrophe to the word 'supporter's' to imply that Biden was only referring to one person - comedian Tony Hinchcliffe who made a joke about Puerto Rico being an 'island of garbage.' 

But Biden's gaffe sparked immediate fury from MAGA fans, with Trump himself saying he thought it was 'worse' than Clinton's now-infamous 2016 rant.

'Earlier today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump's supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage — which is the only word I can think of to describe it,' Biden said in his own cleanup statement. 

'His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That's all I meant to say. The comments at that rally don't reflect who we are as a nation.'

However, people on both sides of the aisle were either perplexed or outraged with the president's statement. 

Former President Trump seized on Biden's comment, declaring it was 'worse' than what Clinton said eight years ago, and Democrats immediately began distancing themselves from the president. 

'Wow, that's what [Biden] says… garbage. I think it's worse [than deplorables],' Trump told thousands of fans gathered in Allentown, Pennsylvania on Tuesday evening.

'Please forgive him for he knoweth not what he say. Honestly he doesn't. And I'm convinced that he likes me more than he likes Kamala,' Trump continued in a nod to Biden's declining mental abilities. 

'No!' the crowd shouted back at the former president.

Trump's allies also quickly piled on criticism of Biden's comments. His running mate, JD Vance, made several tweets furious about the incident, writing: 'Kamala Harris and Joe Biden ought to be ashamed of themselves.'

He added: 'A mother mourning her son who died of a fentanyl overdose is not garbage. A truck driver who can't afford rising diesel prices is not garbage. A father who wants to afford groceries is not garbage.'

Trump's campaign social media account posted the video and commented: 'When Joe wakes up and wonders why his intern tweeted this — we will leave this here as a reminder.'

Even some liberals were outraged by Biden's comments. 

'As the leader of the Democratic Party, President Biden had ONE job tonight: to STFU and let the current nominee have the news cycle,' wrote Leah McElrath. 'However you interpret his words, he wasn’t able to do that.'

New York Magazine writer Jonathan Chait added: 'I think Biden was trying to describe the speaker's comment, not all Trump supporters, as garbage. I also think Biden should be staying away from cameras and media but his ego won't let him.'

Poll aggregator and author Nate Silver went a step further, suggesting the comments made Biden unfit to continue his lame duck term. 

'The fact that he can't consistently speak clearly to a point of reasonable comprehension might also seem to imply that he shouldn't be the President of the United States,' The Signal and the Noise author wrote. 

One journalist, John Harwood, attempted to tamp down the anger at Biden, saying 'the phony outrage for Biden's comment is garbage.' 

It came as Harris was hoping to capture the nation's full attention with a carefully planned rally in front of the White House for 75,000 Democrats one week before Election Day. 

Harris used the event to make her final case for why she should be elected president. 

She called Trump 'unstable' and slammed his 'obsession' with 'grievance' and 'revenge' from the D.C. Ellipse with the White House as her backdrop, seven days before what could be one of the closest races in history.

The Democratic candidate told the crowd that Trump stood 'at this very spot' on January 6 to 'incite' a mob to storm the Capitol.

She also recalled claims the former president said 'so what' when the rioters chanted to hang Mike Pence.

'We know who Donald Trump is. He is the person who stood at this very spot nearly 4 years ago and sent an armed mob to the United States Capitol to overturn the will of the people in a free and fair election.'

The candidates are separated by less than one point in most of the swing states that will ultimately decide the winner, while the betting markets show Harris' chances of winning have plummeted.

More than 50 million Americans have already voted in the race that will go down to the wire. 

When Biden's comment emerged, Trump was at a rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He was told about it by Republican senator Marco Rubio while still on stage.

Rubio told the crowd he had 'breaking news' and that Biden had called them 'garbage'. He added: 'We are not garbage, we are patriots, we love America.'

Trump said 'that's terrible' and recalled Clinton's 'deplorables' remark. He added: 'Garbage, I think. is worse.'

Social media flooded with criticisms of Biden, with Florida congressman Rubio even demanding an apology from the president's camp.

'Just moments ago, Joe Biden stated that our supporters are garbage. I hope their campaign is about to apologize,' Rubio said.

'We are not garbage, we are patriots who love America.'

Trump's son Don Jr. added: 'The media spent all week crying about a joke from a comedian. Meanwhile, Tim Walz called Trump supporters Nazis. Kamala Harris refused to condemn it. And now Kamala's biggest Democrat ally, Joe Biden, is calling all Trump supporters "garbage." Absolutely disgusting!!!' 

Elon Musk, the Trump-supporting Tesla and SpaceX chief, added: 'Biden just called half of America ‘garbage.’ 

Josh Shapiro, governor of the key battleground state of Pennsylvania, was among the first Democrats to distance themselves from Biden's comment.

Shapiro was live on CNN when informed of the remark.

He said: 'I would never insult the good people of Pennsylvania or any Americans even if they chose to support a candidate that I didn't support.

'It's certainly not words I would choose.'

Spokesman Andrew Bates said Biden 'referred to the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as "garbage".'

At a fundraiser in 2016, Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee at the time, dismissed Trump supporters by saying that 'half' fit into what she called a 'basket of deplorables.' 

At his Allentown rally, Trump brought out a lineup of Hispanic supporters and surrogates to speak in order to flaunt his continued support from the Puerto Rican community.

He is trying to make up ground with the Hispanic community after the fallout over Hinchcliffe's joke at his Madison Square Garden rally that insulted this key demographic of voters.

The appeal included pre-program remarks from Rubio, whose parents are Cuban, Puerto Rico's 'Shadow Senator' Zoraida Buxó and Former Allentown mayoral candidate Tim Ramos.

The comedian opened the show in New York City on Sunday, and he stunned listeners by calling Puerto Rico a 'floating pile of garbage.'

Puerto Rican celebrities, including Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny and Ricky Martin, all condemned the joke – and social media erupted with claims this just further illustrates the type of mindset that Trump has about minorities in the U.S.

Outside of Trump's rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday evening, a group of Latino demonstrators gathered and brandished Puerto Rican flags as they marched and chanted in protest of the former president's event.

Meanwhile inside the venue, a handful of Puerto Rican and Hispanic speakers took stage, and some supporters in the arena were also waving the island territory's flag.

Shadow Sen. Buxó told her fellow Puerto Ricans not to believe claims Trump is racist.

'It's easy to get distracted or misled by propaganda, emotional manipulation and distortion of the truth and facts,' Buxó said. 'I urge you to watch out and stay focused on what is truly important when you go to cast your vote.'

'We need change, and Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are not the option to bring about the kind of change that you need and want,' she concluded.

Earlier, the invocation was delivered by a man who said: 'I'm standing here as a proud Puerto Rican.'

Former Allentown mayoral candidate Tim Ramos spoke after the National Anthem.

'I want to start by expressing my love for the island people of Puerto Rico,' he said.

'We are a beautiful people from a beautiful island,' Ramps continued. 'We need a leader that sees that and understands that… Donald Trump is that leader.'

About 60 miles outside of Philadelphia, Trump spoke to a riled up crowd in Allentown at the PLL Center, which has a capacity of 8,500 seated attendees. 

Like most rallies, more chairs were added to the floor of the arena to accommodate for additional audience members who wanted a chance to see the former president up close.

Early voting ended in Pennsylvania on Tuesday and won't reopen until the morning of Election Day on November 5.

Throughout the day, Trump cast doubt on the election process in the state.

'Wow! York County, Pennsylvania, received THOUSANDS of potentially FRAUDULENT Voter Registration Forms and Mail-In Ballot Applications from a third party group,' Trump claimed in a post to X on Tuesday afternoon.

He continued in the same post: 'This is on top of Lancaster County being caught with 2600 Fake Ballots and Forms, all written by the same person.'

'Really bad 'stuff.' WHAT IS GOING ON IN PENNSYLVANIA??? Law Enforcement must do their job, immediately!!! WOW!!!'

The former president also made sure to be present in the state during the end of the early voting period.

On Tuesday afternoon, he engaged in a town hall in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, where he spoke with voters just eight miles from center city Philadelphia.