Democrats and the media erupted with exaggerated outrage over pro-Trump comedian Tony Hinchcliffe's joke about Puerto Rico being a "floating island of garbage" during former President Donald Trump's Madison Square Garden rally in New York City on Sunday, which created a distracting controversy for Trump's campaign in the final days before the election.

Hinchcliffe has now effectively been fired from the campaign as Trump denied knowing him and admitted he probably shouldn't have been hired to speak at the rally during a recent interview, the Irish Star reported.

However, while Trump may regret the initial controversy that stemmed from the comedian's joke, he nonetheless ultimately benefited from it as it led to President Joe Biden's gaffe about Trump's supporters being "garbage" that disrupted the left's anti-Trump narrative and put Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign on the defensive.

Trump had "no idea" who comedian at MSG rally was

During a Tuesday interview with Fox News, host Sean Hannity asked former President Trump about the fallout from Hinchcliffe's Puerto Rico joke, and Trump replied, "I have no idea who he is. Somebody said there was a comedian that joked about Puerto Rico or something. And I have no idea who it was. Never saw him. Never heard of him, and don't want to hear of him. But I have no idea."

"They put a comedian in, which everybody does, you throw comedians in, you don't vet them and go crazy," he continued of his campaign. "It's nobody's fault. But somebody said some bad things."

"Now what they've done is taken somebody that has nothing to do with the party, has nothing to do with us, said something, and they try and make a big deal," Trump said of Democrats and the media. "But I don't know who it is. I don't even know who put him in, and I can't imagine it's a big deal. I've done more for Puerto Rico than any president I think that's ever -- that's ever been president."

After referencing the assistance his prior administration had provided Puerto Rico after back-to-back hurricanes and the "great relationships" he has with Hispanics more broadly and Puerto Ricans specifically, Trump did seem to express some regret that Hinchcliffe had been hired by his campaign for the MSG rally in the first place.

"Yeah. I mean, I don't know if it's a big deal or not, but I don't want anybody making nasty jokes or stupid jokes," Trump acknowledged. "I mean, probably, he shouldn't have been there, yeah."

Biden's "garbage" gaffe changed everything

For a couple of days following former President Trump's MSG rally, he and his campaign were hammered by Democrats and the media over the comedian's "floating island of garbage" joke about Puerto Rico -- until President Biden addressed the situation and upended everything with a gaffe that flipped the script and changed the narratives, according to CNN.

In a conference call with a Latino voting group, Biden was in the process of slamming Trump as an uncaring racist and bigot when he sought to defend Puerto Ricans and said angrily, "The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters."

The Biden White House, joined by some in the media, immediately went into spin mode and attempted to clarify that Biden had been talking about only the comedian and his joke, not Trump and his supporters, but few were buying that absurd explanation, given that video of the president's remarks were readily available and widely viewed after going viral on social media.

Biden's "gift" to the Trump campaign

President Biden's "garbage" gaffe, which was instantly compared to Hillary Clinton's ill-advised "basket of deplorables" smear of Trump's supporters in 2016, provided former President Trump and his campaign with an opportunity to rebut the criticism over the comedian by seizing upon the display of elitist contempt and disdain for his voters.

It also forced VP Harris and her campaign to distance herself from and disavow the words of her boss, as it threw them off the anti-Trump message they hoped to ride until Election Day and undermined their outreach to undecided and soft Trump voters in the final days before ballots are cast.