Harris promises to 'represent all Americans' after Biden's remark on Trump supporters and 'garbage'

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Kamala Harris called Wednesday for Americans to “stop pointing fingers at each other” as she tried to push past comments made by President Joe Biden about Donald Trump's supporters and “garbage " and keep the focus on her Republican opponent in the closing days of the race.

“We know we have an opportunity in this election to turn the page on a decade of Donald Trump, who has been trying to keep us divided and afraid of each other," the Democratic nominee said.

Harris held rallies in a trio of battleground states as part of a blitz in the closing week of the election, with stops Wednesday in Raleigh, North Carolina; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; and Madison, Wisconsin.

She stressed unity and common ground, expanding on her capstone speech Tuesday in Washington, where she laid out what her team called the “closing argument” of her campaign.

“I am not looking to score political points,” the vice president said. “I am looking to make progress.”

As she waited for Harris to take the stage in Raleigh, 35-year-old Liz Kazal said she was “cautiously optimistic” about the election. She’s tried to volunteer for the campaign every week, including making phone calls, knocking on doors with her toddler daughter and raising money for Harris’ candidacy.

“You hope for the best and plan for the worst,” Kazal said.

Meanwhile, the White House rushed to explain that the president's comment about “garbage” was a reference to rhetoric from Trump allies, not Trump’s supporters themselves. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden “does not view Trump supporters or anybody who supports Trump as garbage.”

The controversy began Tuesday — at the same time Harris was speaking near the White House — when Biden participated in a campaign call organized by the Hispanic advocacy group Voto Latino. Biden used the opportunity to criticize Sunday's Madison Square Garden rally, where a comedian described Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.”

“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American,” Biden said. “It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”

Harris told reporters before boarding Air Force Two for her flight to Raleigh that she disagrees "with any criticism of people based on who they vote for.”

“I will represent all Americans, including those who don’t vote for me,” she said.

Her words were an attempt to blunt the controversy over Biden's comments and put some distance between herself and the president, something she has struggled with in the past.

Republicans seized on Biden’s comments, claiming they were an echo of the time when Hillary Clinton, as the Democratic nominee in 2016, said half of Trump’s supporters belonged in a “basket of deplorables.”

“We know what they believe. Because look how they’ve treated you,” Trump said at his rally in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, on Wednesday. “They’ve treated you like garbage. The truth is, they’ve treated our whole country like garbage.”

He also said, “Without question, my supporters are far higher-quality than Crooked Joe’s," using his nickname for the president.

After landing in Green Bay, Wisconsin, for another rally later in the day, Trump posed for photos while wearing a neon orange and yellow vest and sitting in the passenger seat of a garbage truck festooned with American flags and campaign signs.

“How do you like my garbage truck?” Trump said as he took questions from reporters.

"Joe Biden should be ashamed of himself, if he knows what he’s even doing," Trump said.

Travis Waters, 54, who attended Harris' second rally of the day in Harrisburg, shrugged off the commotion over Biden's comments.

“Donald Trump has said so much about so many other groups and I don’t hear the media having the same outrage,” Waters said.

In attacking Biden — and by extension, Harris — Republicans have glossed over Trump’s own history of insulting and demonizing rhetoric, such as calling the United States a “garbage can for the world” or describing political opponents as “the enemy within.” Trump has also described Harris as a “stupid person” and “lazy as hell,” and he’s questioned whether she was on drugs.

Trump has also refused demands to apologize for the comment about Puerto Rico at his rally, acknowledging that “somebody said some bad things” but adding that he “can’t imagine it’s a big deal.”

Political attack lines have a history of occasionally boomeranging back on people who use them. For example, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, now Trump's running mate, once described Democrats as beholden to “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made.”

Vance's 3-year-old comments resurfaced once he became the vice presidential nominee, energizing Harris supporters who repurposed the label as a point of pride on shirts and bumper stickers — much like Trump’s supporters once cheerfully branded themselves as “deplorables.”

At each of Harris' rallies, she was confronted by pro-Palestinian protestors objecting to her support for Israel's military campaign against Hamas in Gaza.

“We all want the war in Gaza to end and get the hostages out," Harris said during one interruption in Madison.

Then she added, “Everyone has a right to be heard, but right now I’m speaking.”

The crowd roared in approval, drowning out another group of protestors who unfurled a banner saying “No Funding for War Crimes."

With just days to go before the end of the campaign, many of Harris' supporters were on edge. Holly Meyer, 65, said she was nervous as she attended the Madison rally.

“But I’m also optimistic,” she said. “People just seem to be energized by Vice President Harris.”

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives during a campaign event at the PA Farm Show Complex and Expo Center, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, in Harrisburg, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris greets the Wisconsin Badgers women's volleyball team before speaking at a campaign rally at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wis., Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wis., Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he sits in a garbage truck Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he sits in a garbage truck Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event at the PA Farm Show Complex and Expo Center, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, in Harrisburg, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event at the PA Farm Show Complex and Expo Center, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, in Harrisburg, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives during a campaign event at the PA Farm Show Complex and Expo Center, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, in Harrisburg, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak at a rally at the Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek in Raleigh, N.C., Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris talks to reporters before boarding Air Force Two, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (Brendan Smialowski/Pool via AP)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris talks to reporters before boarding Air Force Two, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (Brendan Smialowski/Pool via AP)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris waves as she boards Air Force Two, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (Brendan Smialowski/Pool via AP)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris talks to reporters before boarding Air Force Two, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (Brendan Smialowski/Pool via AP)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris talks to reporters before boarding Air Force Two, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (Brendan Smialowski/Pool via AP)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris talks to reporters before boarding Air Force Two, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (Brendan Smialowski/Pool via AP)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris boards Air Force Two, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (Brendan Smialowski/Pool via AP)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris talks to reporters before boarding Air Force Two, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (Brendan Smialowski/Pool via AP)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris talks to reporters before boarding Air Force Two, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (Brendan Smialowski/Pool via AP)

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Rockets fired from Lebanon killed two more people in northern Israel on Thursday, Israeli medics said, raising the death toll there to seven in what marked the deadliest strikes to hit Israel since its military invaded southern Lebanon earlier this month.

The attack came as senior U.S. diplomats were in the region to push for cease-fires in Lebanon and Gaza, hoping to wind down the wars in the Middle East in the Biden administration’s final months.

Hezbollah has been firing rockets, drones and missiles into Israel, and drawing retaliatory strikes, since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of the Gaza Strip triggered the war there. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies backed by Iran.

The conflict along the border escalated into a full-blown war last month, when Israel launched a wave of heavy airstrikes across Lebanon and killed Hezbollah’s top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and most of his deputies. Israeli ground forces pushed into Lebanon at the start of October.

Magen David Adom, Israel’s main emergency medical organization, said its medics confirmed the deaths of a 30-year-old man and 60-year-old woman in a suburb of the northern city of Haifa. They also treated two other people who suffered mild injuries and were hospitalized.

The Israeli military said that roughly 25 rockets crossed into Israel from Lebanon as part of the volley that struck an olive grove where people had gathered for the harvest.

The deadly attack came just hours after local officials in Metula, in northern Israel, said that projectiles fired from Lebanon had struck an agricultural area, killing four foreign workers and an Israeli farmer.

Metula, Israel’s northernmost town which is surrounded by Lebanon on three sides, has suffered heavy damage from rockets. The town’s residents evacuated in October 2023, and only security officials and agricultural workers remain.

The Hotline for Refugees and Migrants, an organization that advocates for foreign workers, said authorities had put them in danger by allowing them to work along the border without proper protection.

Agricultural areas along Israel’s border, where much of the country’s orchards are located, are closed military areas that can only be entered with official permission.

Hezbollah’s newly named top leader, Sheikh Naim Kassem, said in a video statement Wednesday that the militant group will keep fighting Israel until it is offered cease-fire terms it deems acceptable. He said it has recovered from a series of setbacks in recent months, including attacks using explosive pagers and walkie-talkies that was widely blamed on Israel.

“Hezbollah’s capabilities are still available and compatible with a long war,” he said.

Earlier on Thursday, the Israeli military warned people to evacuate from more areas of southern Lebanon, as airstrikes in different parts of the country killed eight people, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency.

Israel has warned people to evacuate from large areas of the country, including major cities in the south and east. Some 1.2 million people have been displaced since the escalation in September.

Thousands of people have fled from Baalbek, the main city in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley, and surrounding areas after Israeli evacuation warnings and aerial bombardment on Wednesday.

Jean Fakhry, a local official in the Deir al-Ahmar region, some 17 kilometers (10 miles) to the southeast, said the main highway “turned into a parking lot.” He said around 12,000 displaced people are staying in the area, with most being hosted in private homes.

At one of the shelters, families with luggage were still arriving on Thursday.

“Our homes were destroyed,” said Zahraa Younis, from the village near Baalbek. “We came with nothing —no clothes or anything else — and took shelter here.”

More than 2,800 people have been killed and nearly 13,000 wounded in Lebanon since the conflict began last year, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

In Israel, rockets, missiles, and drones launched by Hezbollah have killed at least 68 people, about half of them soldiers. More than 60,000 Israelis from towns and cities along the border have been evacuated from their homes for more than a year.

Frankel reported from Jerusalem and Tawil from Deir al-Ahmar, Lebanon.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Displaced children, who fled Baalbek city and the nearby towns of Douris and Ain Bourday with their families amid the ongoing Hezbollah-Israel war, play at a school being used as a shelter, in Deir Al-Ahmar, east Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Displaced people, who fled Baalbek city and the nearby towns of Douris and Ain Bourday amid the ongoing Hezbollah-Israel war, sit at a school being used as a shelter, in Deir Al-Ahmar, east Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Displaced children, who fled Baalbek city and the nearby towns of Douris and Ain Bourday with their families amid the ongoing Hezbollah-Israel war, study inside at a school being used as a shelter, in Deir Al-Ahmar, east Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A displaced woman, who fled Baalbek city and the nearby towns of Douris and Ain Bourday with her family amid the ongoing Hezbollah-Israel war, walks at a school being used as a shelter, in Deir Al-Ahmar, east Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Displaced children, who fled Baalbek city and the nearby towns of Douris and Ain Bourday with their families amid the ongoing Hezbollah-Israel war, play at a school being used as a shelter, in Deir Al-Ahmar, east Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A displaced woman, who fled Baalbek city and the nearby towns of Douris and Ain Bourday amid the ongoing Hezbollah-Israel war, holds her daughter at a school being used as a shelter, in Deir Al-Ahmar, east Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Displaced people, who fled Baalbek city and the nearby towns of Douris and Ain Bourday with their families amid the ongoing Hezbollah-Israel, take shelter inside a church sanctuary, in Deir Al-Ahmar, east Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Displaced children, who fled Baalbek city and the nearby towns of Douris and Ain Bourday with their families amid the ongoing Hezbollah-Israel war, play inside a school being used as a shelter, in Deir Al-Ahmar, east Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A displaced woman, who fled Baalbek city and the nearby towns of Douris and Ain Bourday amid the ongoing Hezbollah-Israel war, changes the diaper of her daughter at a school being used as a shelter, in Deir Al-Ahmar, east Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Displaced children, who fled Baalbek city and the nearby towns of Douris and Ain Bourday with their families amid the ongoing Hezbollah-Israel war, play at a school being used as a shelter, in Deir Al-Ahmar, east Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Displaced children, who fled Baalbek city and the nearby towns of Douris and Ain Bourday with their families amid the ongoing Hezbollah-Israel war, listen to a story at a school being used as a shelter, in Deir Al-Ahmar, east Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Displaced children, who fled Baalbek city and the nearby towns of Douris and Ain Bourday with their families amid the ongoing Hezbollah-Israel war, are reflected in a mirror inside a school being used as a shelter, in Deir Al-Ahmar, east Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Rescue workers use excavators to remove the rubble of a destroyed building that was hit Tuesday night in an Israeli airstrike, as they search for victims in Sarafand, south Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A civil defence worker searches for victims in the rubble of a destroyed building hit in an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday night, in Sarafand, southern Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Emergency workers carry the body of a victim found in the rubble of a destroyed building hit Tuesday night in an Israeli airstrike in Sarafand, south Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)