Former President Donald Trump was facing the prospect of a highly negative news cycle in the final week before the election as Democrats and the media overreacted, as they tend to do, to a joke told about Puerto Rico by a comedian at his big Madison Square Garden rally.

Trump was saved from that ill fate by none other than President Joe Biden, who in critiquing Trump and the comedian seemed to say that the GOP nominee's supporters were "garbage," according to the Washington Examiner.

The gaffe from Biden, in addition to reinforcing why he is no longer the Democratic nominee, provided Trump and his campaign with the opportunity to flip the script on the controversy and apply pressure on Vice President Kamala Harris over Biden's remarks.

Biden says of Trump: "The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters"

Democrats and the media, as usual, went over the top with their expressions of indignation and outrage to a joke from pro-Trump comedian Tony Hinchcliffe about Puerto Rico being a "floating island of garbage," and the overreaction threatened to be a major distraction for the former president's re-election campaign in the final days before ballots are cast.

That all changed on Tuesday, however, when President Biden decided to share his thoughts on the controversy during a conference call with a Latino voting organization and appeared to denigrate all of Trump's supporters as "garbage" while criticizing his former opponent and the comedian.

While directly trashing Trump as racist toward Latinos, Biden referenced the comedian's remarks and said that Puerto Ricans in his "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."

WATCH: President Joe Biden: "The only garbage I see floating out there is [Trump] supporters." pic.twitter.com/9teSUOytqC

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) October 30, 2024

White House tries to spin Biden's gaffe

President Biden's comments immediately blew up and went viral on social media, which prompted the White House to immediately try to spin the remarks as aimed solely at the comedian and not all of Trump's supporters -- a hastily released transcript even added a crucial apostrophe to the word "supporter's" to reflect as much -- but everyone heard what was actually said and the damage had already been done.

An intern for Biden even posted a sort of clarification of the remarks to his personal X account, which stated, "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. 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.

The White House spin and Biden's clarification had little effect, though, as even many of their usual media allies weren't buying it, and the moment was instantly compared to failed 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's "basket of deplorables" castigation of Trump's supporters as the worst sort of people that arguably contributed to her losing that election eight years ago.

Trump and his campaign respond

Former President Trump was in the middle of a campaign rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, when he learned of President Biden's "garbage" comment about his supporters and actually took a moment during his speech to address what his former opponent had said.

"That's terrible," Trump said as he read Biden's remark from a sheet of paper. "So you have -- remember Hillary? She said 'deplorable' and then she said ‘irredeemable,’ right? But she said deplorable. That didn’t work out. Garbage I think is worse, right? But he doesn’t know. You have to please forgive him. Please forgive him, for he not knoweth what he said."

The Trump campaign also quickly released a statement as spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said, "President Trump is backed by Latinos, Black voters, union workers, angel moms, law enforcement officers, Border Patrol agents, and Americans of all faiths -- and Harris, Walz, and Biden have labeled these great Americans as fascists, Nazis, and now, garbage."

"There’s no way to spin it: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris don’t just hate President Trump, they despise the tens of millions of Americans who support him. Kamala does not deserve four more years. President Trump will be a president for ALL Americans," the spokeswoman added.