“The only garbage I see out there is his supporters,” said President Joe Biden on Tuesday evening, referencing a comedian’s comment at former President Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally, as Vice President Kamala Harris delivered on the Ellipse, visible from the White House windows, what her campaign has described as her “closing argument” speech of her campaign.

Calling half the United States’ electorate “garbage” is obviously political malpractice. Recognizing that was the White House press office and a liberal Politico reporter’s insertion of an apostrophe, joined by an apology posted on X in Biden’s name about an hour later.

However, these attempts to mislead seem unpersuasive considering the barrage of comparisons by Democrats, up to and including Harris’ running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.), of the Trump rally with a 1939 Madison Square Garden rally for the pro-Nazi German American Bund. Actually, that rally was conducted in an earlier Madison Square Garden, demolished in 1968, while the current arena has been the site of the 1976, 1980 and 1992 Democratic National Conventions, all of which I attended.

Of course, as Axios’ Alex Thompson quickly noted, “Operatives in both parties instantly saw (Biden’s comment) as a flashback to Hillary Clinton’s ‘basket of deplorables’ comment.”

The difference is she insulted only half of Trump’s supporters, while Biden seemed to insult all of them.

Sensible Democrats understand that. Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-Pa.), apparently surprised by a CNN interviewer’s question, replied, “I’m giving you my fresh reaction to it. I would never insult the good people of Pennsylvania or any Americans if they choose to support a candidate that I didn’t support.”

The Trump campaign instantly emailed supporters, “You are not garbage!”

Biden’s “garbage” comment, a week before Election Day, stepped all over Harris’ “closing argument,” in which she said, “I don’t believe people who disagree with me are the enemy. … I’ll give them a seat at the table.”

It hurts because it’s indicative of the contempt and hatred many Democratic politicians and voters feel for their fellow citizens who support the other party’s candidate. However, it’s not the first possibly calamitous mistake made by either side’s campaign during this closely contested campaign.

The “garbage” comment was evidently a riposte to a comedian’s joke at the Trump rally that Puerto Rico is “a floating island of garbage.” Puerto Rico actually has a landfill shortage problem, but whoever failed to vet the comedian’s text or approved it committed political malpractice.