White House press officials altered the official transcript of a call in which President Joe Biden appeared to take a swipe at supporters of Donald Trump, drawing objections from the federal workers who document such remarks for posterity, according to two U.S. government officials and an internal email obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.

Biden, according to a transcript prepared by the official White House stenographers, told the Latino group on a Tuesday evening video call, “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.”

The transcript released by the White House press office, however, rendered the quote with an apostrophe, reading “supporter’s” rather than “supporters,” which aides said pointed to Biden criticizing Hinchcliffe, not the millions of Americans who are supporting Trump for president.

    • ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.com
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      20 days ago

      Yeah, honestly…“altered” in a headline is itself biased, when “corrected” is entirely plausible. The transcriber had no idea if Biden meant to have an apostrophe there.

      Also, maybe spend the final week of what could be our final democratic election covering something of importance, AP.

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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        20 days ago

        This isn’t the first time.

        It’s made headlines at least twice, but we only hear about it when the stenographers complain

        Obviously it’s not the end of the world, but that doesn’t mean we have to accept revisionism.

    • HellsBelleOP
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      20 days ago

      I used to transcribe podcasts and you make damned sure that what was said - including every “umm”, (long pause) or questionable comment - is what you typed out.

      I would think for the WH stenographers they would be mandated to do that.

        • HellsBelleOP
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          20 days ago

          The context of the words before and after.

          “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.”

          Making the word “supporters” possessive means the sentence makes no sense at all.

          • dogslayeggs@lemmy.world
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            20 days ago

            The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter’s demonization of Latinos.

            Makes sense to me.

          • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
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            20 days ago

            It’s explained in the summary you posted.

            The transcript released by the White House press office, however, rendered the quote with an apostrophe, reading “supporter’s” rather than “supporters,” which aides said pointed to Biden criticizing Hinchcliffe, not the millions of Americans who are supporting Trump for president.

          • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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            20 days ago

            Oh you’re missing a [garbage].

            “The only employees out there are Bobs” vs “The only employees out there are Bob’s [employees]”

            Is it the best and most precise English? No, it’s a known trait of Biden’s that he trips over words and doesn’t have the best intuitive sense of sentence structure when he’s speaking informally. Especially when he’s relaxed enough to let his stutter through. Personally as a fellow stutterer I find it relatable.

      • dgmib@lemmy.world
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        20 days ago

        Did you read the article? The difference between the two transcripts was:

        “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters”

        vs

        “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter’s”

        And stenographers use a special keyboard that records phonics, not words. It doesn’t have punctuation. That gets added later.

      • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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        20 days ago

        Absolutely. Did you do so in a language in which an unvoiced apostrophe is the difference between the possessive and plural? Because here in English, at least the American variety we do that

  • Maple Engineer@lemmy.world
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    20 days ago

    It’s so unfair of Biden to call the racists, white supremacist, christofascists, aggrieved white man babies, misogynists, xenophobes, neo fascists, antivaxers, and others who support Trump, “garbage”.

    • InverseParallax@lemmy.world
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      Serious, own it man, they have been irredeemable filth for centuries, they still fly the flag of racist genocidal treason.

      Call a spade a spade and inbred trash, trash.

      And with that, I’m heading out to go vote.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      20 days ago

      I’m going to call Biden the worst possible insult I can think of because of what he said: deplorable.

  • noneya@lemmy.world
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    20 days ago

    Solid evidence of media bias. Trump can call Harris a whore, prostitute, moron, enemy from within, but “garbage”? We draw the line at “garbage”? What ever happened to JD Vance’s, “we have to stop getting so offended”? Puhlease, American media. Boo this writer.

    • HellsBelleOP
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      20 days ago

      The media didn’t change it tho. The White House did.

        • HellsBelleOP
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          It’s important news when the White House forces a transcriber to change their work because a POTUS fucked up.

          Instead of trying to cover it up Biden could have issued a simple apology. Too bad that’s not what happened.

          • noneya@lemmy.world
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            20 days ago

            No offense to Biden, but who gives a flying fuck what he says or if the White House adds an apostrophe to a statement? This is news? Meanwhile, Trump is planning to deport 10 million migrants on day 1, eliminate reproductive rights from 53% of the electorate, cripple the economy so billionaires can get a tax break, slap tariffs on every product we buy, but yeah…let’s worry about an apostrophe.

            The media has been trying way too hard to get this wannabe dictator elected and articles like these would be laughable if the stakes weren’t so ridiculously high. Please vote.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    20 days ago

    The transcript released by the White House press office, however, rendered the quote with an apostrophe, reading “supporter’s” rather than “supporters,”

    • BradleyUffner@lemmy.world
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      That’s some bullshit backpedaling. It’s clear what what was meant. Just own it, because it’s the truth. Trying to hide behind an apostrophe just feels weasely.

  • Steve@communick.news
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    20 days ago

    If there is one thing Democrats can learn from Republicans, it’s to shamelessly own your beliefs. Don’t try to cover them up, walk them back, or deny them.

    When they called Harris a DEI hire, should have said “Fuck yah she is! And should be!”

    Trump calls lefty liberals the enemy within? Biden can call Trump supporters trash. Personally I’d call them American Taliban.