Biden has seemed to steal the spotlight from Vice President Kamala Harris or undercut her campaign’s message multiple times throughout her 2024 campaign, bringing some pundits to theorize he is undermining her chances of winning the presidential election. 

Here are four times Biden has, whether intentionally or not, thrown the Harris campaign for a loop. 

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1. Biden blasts Trump supporters: ‘Garbage’

During a Zoom call for a Hispanic get-out-the-vote event Tuesday evening, Biden said: “And just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico ‘a floating island of garbage.’ Well, let me tell you something … I don’t know, the Puerto Ricans that I know in my home state of Delaware — they’re good, decent, honorable people.”

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

Biden’s disparaging remarks came after a comedian at a recent Trump rally in Madison Square Garden made a joke calling Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage.” Although Trump allies condemned the quip and the former president said he did not know the comedian, the incident launched a media firestorm and brought negative publicity to the Trump campaign with just days to go until the election. 

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 30, 2024

But Biden’s latest gaffe represents an opportunity for the GOP to flip the “garbage” narrative and put the Harris campaign on the defensive in the final stretch before the election, even as the vice president tries to paint herself as a unity candidate.

“While I am running a campaign of positive solutions to save America, Kamala Harris is running a campaign of hate,” Trump proclaimed in a Truth Social post responding to Biden’s denigrating remark. “She has spent all week comparing her political opponents to the most evil mass murderers in history. Now, on top of everything, Joe Biden calls our supporters ‘garbage.’ You can’t lead America if you don’t love the American People.”

Additionally, the timing of Biden’s comments Tuesday evening stole the show from Harris, who was making her closing argument before tens of thousands of voters in Washington, D.C.

Attempting to play the unity card after a week of calling Trump a fascist and comparing him to Hitler, Harris told the crowd: “It is time to stop pointing fingers. We have to stop pointing fingers and start locking arms.” 

Though she often veered off into biting attacks on Trump, labeling him as “unstable” and a “petty tyrant” and accusing him of being “consumed with grievance,” the vice president claimed she wanted to put “country over party.” 

“This is her night,” Biden said in the hours leading up to Harris’s prime-time Washington speech. But his ill-timed comments that very evening may have served to overshadow his vice president’s closing pitch to voters.  

2. Biden wears MAGA hat: ‘Unity’

During an appearance at a Pennsylvania fire station on Sept. 11, Biden made a show of unity that may not have been what Harris’s campaign was looking for. 

Speaking at the Shanksville fire department following a visit to a 9/11 memorial in the state, Biden engaged with a Republican voter and donned a Trump 2024 hat to cheers from the crowd.

His unexpected move garnered a swift statement from the White House explaining that the gesture was meant to embody the “bipartisan unity” that engulfed the country following the 9/11 terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.

But the image of Biden grinning in a MAGA hat had the internet rolling as Republicans trolled his move to don the garb of his vice president’s chief rival. 

Higher res footage of Biden putting on a Trump 2024 hat today via kelseysimmers94 (TikTok) pic.twitter.com/FeiVsdbdG1

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) September 12, 2024

Biden’s viral moment also came just a day after Trump accused him of despising Harris during his presidential debate against the vice president. 

“He got 14 million votes, and they threw him out of office. And you know what? I’ll give you a little secret. He hates her. He can’t stand her,” Trump said, referring to Biden’s withdrawal from his reelection campaign following intense pressure from the Democratic Party to do so after his flailing performance during the first presidential debate. 

When Harris took her boss’s place in a swift ascension to the top of the Democratic ticket, critics expressed concern over the rapid switchover, as Biden had secured over 14 million votes throughout the Democratic primaries. 

Social media users flocked to X to suggest Trump was right about Biden having a chip on his shoulder about his vice president’s rise to power, bringing an unwelcome splash of attention to the Harris campaign.

🇺🇸🚨 BREAKING: President Joe Biden Seen Wearing TRUMP Hat Today.

In last night’s election debate, Trump noted how Biden didn’t like Harris and felt ousted by his own party. pic.twitter.com/hB4FVZCkty

— JAKE (@JakeGagain) September 11, 2024

3. Biden holds surprise press conference during Harris rally

A last-minute appearance from Biden in the White House press briefing room sent the internet into spasms of speculation earlier this month. Biden’s remarks in the press room upstaged his vice president because they came at the same time as a prime-time rally Harris was holding in Michigan. 

LISTEN to the gasps as President Biden surprisingly enters the White House Press Briefing. pic.twitter.com/jE2stz7XZI

— Jeremy Art (@cspanJeremy) October 4, 2024

With the Harris campaign reportedly annoyed at the commander in chief’s move, Trump allies seized the opportunity to suggest that Biden “absolutely despises” his vice president. 

“Kamala began speaking in Michigan at 2:04 EST. Biden went to the White House briefing room two minutes later for the first time since he took office. All of the networks then cut from Kamala to Biden,” one right-leaning pundit wrote in a post to X.  

Kamala began speaking in Michigan at 2:04 EST

Biden went to the White House briefing room two minutes later for the first time since he took office.

All of the networks then cut from Kamala to Biden

Biden then said he and Kamala are “singing from the same song sheet. She’s a…

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) October 4, 2024

Meanwhile, top Republicans, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, went even further in musings that Biden was deliberately undercutting the Harris campaign.

Gingrich said he had “a hunch, as a historian and occasional novelist … that sometime in the last two weeks, Joe and Jill looked at each other and thought, ‘You know, wouldn’t it be a great legacy if Joe’s the only guy ever to beat Trump?’ I think the stuff he’s done to undermine her in the last 10 days is pretty amazing.”

“I don’t think it’s an accident,” the former House speaker concluded during a recent episode of Mark Halperin’s show 2Way Tonight.

4. Biden praises DeSantis: ‘Great job’

When Hurricanes Helene and Milton hit Florida last month, Harris started a bitter feud with the state’s Republican governor, accusing him of playing “political games” during the natural disaster. However, Republicans were quick to note that her boss seemed to be undercutting her message as he lavished praise on Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) for the “great job” he was doing to conduct disaster relief efforts.

“The governor of Florida has been cooperative. He said he’s gotten all that he needs. I talked to him again yesterday,” Biden said.

His move to praise DeSantis as “cooperative” came just a day after Harris blasted the governor for allegedly refusing to take her calls. The Florida lawmaker said he was not aware the vice president had tried to call him.

OMG. Biden contradicts Kamala and says DeSantis is doing a great job. pic.twitter.com/AsW4EeqOKe

— Juanita Broaddrick (@atensnut) October 8, 2024

“It is selfish, and it is about political gamesmanship instead of doing the job that you took an oath to do — which is to put the people first,” she complained. 

Social media users quickly took to X to comment on the seemingly conflicting messaging coming out of the Biden White House. 

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“Biden counter-programs Kamala Harris and says Gov. Ron DeSantis is doing a great job just hours after Harris said he was doing an awful job,” one right-leaning pundit said. 

“OMG. Biden contradicts Kamala and says DeSantis is doing a great job,” another user wrote.