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Donald Trump has heavily criticized Joe Biden for apparently calling his MAGA supporters “trash” – even though the former president has repeatedly referred to the entire US as a “dustbin”.

“While I am running a campaign of positive solutions to save America, Kamala Harris is running a campaign of hate,” Trump wrote in an early morning post on Truth Social on Wednesday.

“She has spent the entire week comparing her political opponents to the most vicious mass murderers in history. Now, to make matters worse, Joe Biden is calling our supporters 'garbage.'”

He continued: “You can't lead America if you don't love the American people.” Kamala Harris and Joe Biden have shown that they are both unfit to be president of the United States.

“I am proud to lead the largest, broadest and most important political coalition in American history. We welcome historic numbers of Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans and citizens of all races, religions, colors and creeds. It is my desire to be the president of the entire people.”

Biden sparked a row on Tuesday when he responded to comedian Tony Hinchcliffe's racist comments at the former president's rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, when he called the US territory of Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”

“The only trash I see floating out there is his supporters, his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and un-American,” Biden said of the widely condemned comments.

Now his own comments sparked a backlash, with the White House insisting they had been misinterpreted and taken out of context.

White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement that Biden “called the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as trash” and not the MAGA crowd.

The White House also released a statement from the president on his personal X account.

Biden wrote: “Today I called the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico expressed by Trump supporters at his rally at Madison Square Garden trash – that's the only word I can think of to describe it.”

He continued: “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That's all I wanted to say. The comments at this rally do not reflect who we are as a nation.”

Trump's attempt to seize on Biden's comments and accuse him and Kamala Harris of a “campaign of hate” comes even as he has repeatedly referred to the entire nation as a “dustbin.”

“We are a dump. “We are like a garbage can to the world,” Trump said at a campaign rally in Arizona last week.

“That happened. We are like a garbage can. You know it's the first time I've said that. Every time I come to them and talk about what they've done to our country I get angrier and it's the first time I've said 'dustbin' but it's a very apt description.”

At a campaign stop in Michigan on Saturday, the former president said again: “We are a garbage can. We are like a garbage can and they throw away their criminals.”

The former president then received thunderous applause when he called for “the death penalty for any migrant who kills an American citizen or law enforcement officer.”

On Tuesday, just hours before Biden's remarks, Trump again told his supporters — this time in Pennsylvania — that “it's like we're a giant garbage can.”

Trump has also tried to distance himself from Hinchcliffe's comments — even though the comedian made his offensive remarks onstage during the GOP candidate's big closing argument to voters.

“No one loves our Latino community and our Puerto Rican community more than I do,” he said at his campaign rally in Pennsylvania, referring to the nearly six million Puerto Ricans who live in the United States, according to U.S. Census data.

In an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity on Tuesday, he claimed that Puerto Ricans flock to hug and kiss him when they see him on the street.

“I had a really great relationship with Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rican people. Every time I go outside I see someone from Puerto Rico. They hug me and kiss me,” he said.

Biden's comments came as Harris delivered her final speech to voters at the Ellipse Building in Washington DC on Tuesday evening – the very spot where Trump addressed his supporters before the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol.

“It is a choice whether we have a country rooted in freedom for every American or ruled by chaos and division,” the vice president said.