Welcome back in for Al’s Afternoon Tea, our chance to stop and sample the latest news.

The election is in six days, and we’re talking about garbage. 

However, before we get to that, we do have breaking news: The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Virginia can, indeed, remove noncitizens from its voter rolls. When the Commonwealth followed its own laws by cleaning up the voter rolls, the Biden-Harris Department of Justice went to court to stop it from keeping self-identified noncitizens from voting. But Virginia fought back and won. We’ll have more on that on tomorrow’s edition of The Brew. 

Biden to Most Americans: You’re “Garbage”

I have a confession to make: Not once in any commentary, Brew, or Tea since January 20, 2021 have I used the phrase “President Joe Biden.” That’s my personal protest over what happened in the 2020 election. At times I felt I was being petty, but this afternoon, I know I am thoroughly vindicated.

Last night, Joe Biden called a majority of Americans “garbage” — and no amount of spin or references to his senility or stuttering can defend it. He said it, he said it clearly … and his history of open hostility toward people who support Donald Trump proves he meant it.

Biden was doing a Zoom rally with Latinos last night when he started attacking Trump over a joke comedian Tony Hinchcliffe made at Trump’s rally in Madison Square Garden, referencing Puerto Rico as an “island of floating garbage.” And out it came from Biden’s mouth: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his (Trump’s) supporters.”

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

Attempts to quash the story failed, so some of them –most notably Politico — completely lied about what Biden said, as JD Vance pointed out.

"The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters." That's a direct quote. That's what Kamala Harris's boss said. This is how Politico decided to report it:

Do @JonLemire @alexanderburns @politico have an ounce of integrity? Will they correct this obvious falsehood? pic.twitter.com/B1ktGVpLfz

— JD Vance (@JDVance) October 30, 2024

Other hacks tried to say critics were taking Biden’s words out of context. Another put it down to Biden’s stutter. The White House went back and changed the official transcript to make it appear Biden was only talking about the comedian. And staffers put out a tweet in Biden’s name insisting that what you just heard with your own ears in the clip above is wrong.

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…

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 30, 2024

Biden didn’t write that tweet any more than he wrote his own letter withdrawing from the presidential race. But even this spin is repugnant. “You’re not garbage,” he’s saying. “You’re just Nazis.” Thanks for nothing, Big Guy.

Sen. Marco Rubio broke the news to Trump and his followers during last night’s rally in Pennsylvania. Trump’s reaction is fascinating.

Trump finds out live onstage that Biden called his supporters “garbage”. pic.twitter.com/OmdtZUA8AE

— Joey Mannarino (@JoeyMannarinoUS) October 30, 2024

In addition to the “wow,” headshaking, and indignation, is there not a brief hint of a smile? Trump immediately recognized what Biden’s comment meant for his campaign.

Why Biden’s “Garbage” Remark Smells Sweet

Here’s why Biden’s remark rapidly goes from horrific to hysterical. Once again, he used it to step all over Kamala Harris’s big moment.

The hours between last night and this morning were supposed to be all about Harris’s “closing argument” in the campaign — her big speech on the Ellipse in front of the White House. (Even though the speech was literally in Joe Biden’s front yard, he was not invited to attend.) Harris wanted the backdrop of the White House, but not the burden of the Big Guy.

Then halfway through her speech, Biden dropped his big stinker. And rather than getting to spend the evening and morning calling Harris’s speech the greatest oration in Washington, D.C. since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood on the Lincoln Memorial steps, the cable news talking heads and political writers have been forced to talk about Biden’s “garbage” insult as well.

This is at least the third time that Biden has wrecked a big moment for Harris. Can anyone say “passive aggressive behavior”?

At this point in a close election, it’s about which candidate wins the day. Harris was poised to win the day with her big production on the Ellipse. Biden snatched that away from her.

Tim Walz Responds to Garbage Talk

Harris herself didn’t initially address the “garbage” comment this morning, so Tim Walz was forced to do so on the network morning shows. Hear how he responds to ABC News and CBS News:

ABC: How can Kamala find "common ground" with President Trump's supporters when she's simultaneously smearing them and insulting him?

WALZ: "The vice president's rhetoric is the rhetoric that a president of the United States gives."

🤔 pic.twitter.com/NmHWivK3Nk

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

CBS: You compared Trump supporters to Nazis. Biden called them "garbage." Hillary called them "deplorables." Doesn't that undercut your fake "unity" message?

TIM WALZ: "No, certainly not." pic.twitter.com/c79M9Kx6uC

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

Apparently, Harris doesn’t have the market cornered on word salads.

But the words, inane or otherwise, aren’t even the point. The fact that Walz had to answer questions about it is a loss for the Harris campaign. Again, today was all supposed to be about her “closing argument.”

Harris Delivers Her Closing Argument from the Center of the Swamp

So what of Kamala Harris’s big speech anyway? The substance of it basically amounts to “Orange Man bad.” She stood in the center of the Swamp, with the White House as a visual backdrop and constant reminder that she’s been working there for four years, claiming to represent a “new way forward.”

Said Harris: “We have to stop pointing fingers and start locking arms. It is time to turn the page on the drama and the conflict, the fear and division. It is time for a new generation of leadership in America.”

But half of you are Nazis, garbage, and insurrectionists.

Indeed, Harris spoke more about J6 than she did about the specific needs of the American people. The manure of lies she spread about J6 and Trump could fertilize all the farms in Virginia.

Earlier in the day Harris was asked why she hasn’t already done all the things she’s been promising on the campaign trail. Her answer? “I’m not president.” Oh. So she had no influence? No pull? No responsibility? She was just so much eye candy at Biden’s side in the same way she once was  with San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown? 

HOST: Why haven't you done any of what you're proposing already?

KAMALA: "I'm gonna tell you what I'm doing as president when I have the ability, then, to do what I know based on my experience is a new approach that is about building on the good work that is happened."

😳 pic.twitter.com/ZO1frZqlt1

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 29, 2024

Is that harsh? She was also asked what she had to say to those people in Michigan who are suffering economic hardships due to the Biden-Harris administration’s policies. No lie — she again opened her answer with, “I come from the middle class.” Hasn’t she realized that the line has now become a punch line?

Reporter: "What's your message to Michigan voters on the economy? We have auto workers being laid off… The average person can't afford groceries or their rent."

Kamala: "Let me start with this: I come from the middle class." 🙄 pic.twitter.com/F4D4pKyytf

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 29, 2024

How Peculiar: Puerto Rico’s Senator Zoraida Buxó Endorses Donald Trump

While the media and Democrats are still losing their collective minds over comedian Tony Hinchcliffe making a joke about Puerto Rico at Trump’s Madison Square Garden, Puerto Rican Shadow Senator Zoraida Buxó strongly endorsed President Trump during his Allentown, Pennsylvania rally last night.

BREAKING: Puerto Rico's Shadow U.S. Senator Zoraida Buxó just endorsed Trump on stage at the Allentown rally. Her entire speech was GOLDEN.

"We need change, and Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are NOT the option to bring about the kind of change that you need and want and certainly… pic.twitter.com/FcgOzAqoyL

— George (@BehizyTweets) October 29, 2024

Vance Does Joe Rogan Podcast; Harris Dodges

Vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance sat down Wednesday with podcast king Joe Rogan. As for Kamala Harris? She refused to do an interview with Rogan unless he traveled to her and limited the chat to one hour.

The Stream has some thoughts:

On this @joerogan thing: @KamalaHarris telling a business owner he has to come to her, especially when she's traveled to do other interviews, seems like she doesn't care to do the interview. The alternative is that she doesn't like his format and wants to change it. Also bad.

— The Stream (@Streamdotorg) October 29, 2024

Dirty Election Tricks: Official Who Tried to Keep Trump Off Ballot “Accidentally” Posts Sensitive Election Computer System Passwords Online

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold “accidentally” leaked the passwords for the voting machines in 63 of the state’s 64 counties. The passwords showed up on a state website. Specifically, according to an affidavit from the Colorado GOP, Griswold shared a file on her website beginning in August that “contained over 600 BIOS passwords for voting components in 63 of the state’s 64 counties.”

The file was only changed last week.

The passwords were not encrypted. According to Colorado election law, they are so sensitive and critical to the security of election systems that access is limited to a very select few. According to the Colorado GOP, not even county clerks and commissioners are supposed to have access to those files.

We’d like to think Griswold was simply careless or an utter moron, but that’s hard to do when she’s the same woman who tried to force Trump off the ballot in Colorado.

No action that appears designed to keep Trump from winning this election can be ruled out.

In any event, the Colorado election system has been compromised. It will be interesting to see how the state handles certification of the results.

On the Stream Menu

Stream contributor Chenyuan Snider writes about sanctification and civic responsibility in “A Deformed Christianity.”

Regardless of how the election goes, Wander Alger writes that we must “Prepare for the Fallout.” 

Al Perrotta is The Stream’s Washington bureau chief, coauthor with John Zmirak of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration, and coauthor of the counterterrorism memoir Hostile Intent: Protecting Yourself Against Terrorism.