When the Democrats sought to capitalize on a joke by a comedian at Donald Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden, they really thought they had something that would halt his momentum. Given the variety of missteps Kamala Harris experienced over the past few weeks, I guess you can't blame them for trying.

And then Joe Biden happened. 

During a Zoom call on Tuesday evening, Joe Biden called Trump supporters "garbage."

"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 — I – I — I don’t know the Puerto Rican that — that I know — or a Puerto Rico, where I’m from — in my home state of Delaware, they’re good, decent, honorable people. The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters," Biden said on the call. "His — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been."

BREAKING: Biden refers to millions of President Trump's supporters as "garbage."

Does Kamala disavow? pic.twitter.com/Zx4g3NOU9L

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

The White House quickly jumped in to clean up the mess he made. And boy did he create a mess.

Using Google Trends, we can see the interest in both stories over time. Google Trends numbers show search interest relative to the peak for a specific region and time. A score of 100 indicates peak popularity, 50 means half as popular, and 0 means there wasn’t enough data for the term. Here's the Google Trends graph comparing searches for "Puerto Rico garbage" and "Biden Trump supporters garbage."

Joe Biden really screwed over Kamala Harris... again. pic.twitter.com/J1kfaDAGHP

— Matt Margolis (@mattmargolis) October 31, 2024

Ouch. It's amazing to see how Biden's comments rapidly eclipsed Tony Hinchcliffe's joke about Puerto Rico. I can't say for sure if that was his intention, but a big part of me thinks that it was. 

Recommended: The Fallout From Biden Calling Trump Supporters 'Garbage' Is Huge

Regardless, the outcome was clear. Suddenly, the Democrats' efforts to exploit a harmless joke were blown up, and Trump managed to win the day with an epic trolling of Biden-Harris in a garbage truck in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: "How do you like my garbage truck? This truck is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden." pic.twitter.com/7UwMZ8syvx

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

"WE'RE GONNA BRING OUR COUNTRY BACK!" 🔥 pic.twitter.com/2c7HG23HYL

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

Trump also appeared at his rally wearing a garbage man's vest.

"For the past 9 years, Kamala and her party have called us racists, bigots, fascists, deplorable, irredeemables, and they call me Hitler," Trump said at the rally. "They've taken your money, they've thrown open our borders to criminals... They've sent our blood and treasure to fight in stupid foreign wars.... This Tuesday is your chance to stand up and declare you are not going to take it anymore."

PRESIDENT TRUMP: "For the past 9 years, Kamala and her party have called us racists, bigots, fascists, deplorable, irredeemables, and they call me Hitler... They've taken your money, they've thrown open our borders to criminals... They've sent our blood and treasure to fight in… pic.twitter.com/1Vxwnc75cf

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