It was raining in Wisconsin. The kind of cold, October drizzle that makes everything look a bit grey and miserable. Then, a massive white Boeing 757 touched down at Green Bay-Austin Straubel International Airport, and out stepped a man wearing a bright orange safety vest over a crisp white dress shirt and a signature red tie. This wasn't just another campaign stop. This was the moment the trump garbage truck video started taking over every social media feed in the country.
Honestly, the whole thing felt like a fever dream. Donald Trump, a former president and then-candidate, gingerly walking across a slick tarmac toward a white garbage truck. The truck was decked out with American flags and "Trump Make America Great Again 2024" decals. It looked surreal. He reached for the handle, missed it once or twice—something his critics immediately jumped on—before finally hoisting himself into the passenger seat.
“How do you like my garbage truck?” he yelled down to the pack of reporters. “This truck is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden.”
Why the Trump Garbage Truck Video Actually Exists
You can't understand the video without knowing about the verbal war that preceded it. It all started with a "floating island of garbage." That was a line from comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at a Trump rally in Madison Square Garden just days earlier. He was referring to Puerto Rico. The blowback was instant. Republicans were backpedaling; Democrats were pouncing.
Then Joe Biden hopped on a Voto Latino Zoom call. He tried to address the joke but ended up creating a political explosion of his own. Biden said, "The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters."
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The White House later insisted he was talking specifically about the comedian's rhetoric, adding an apostrophe to "supporter's" in the official transcript to make it singular. But for the Trump campaign, the damage was done—or rather, the opportunity was seized. They saw it as the 2024 version of Hillary Clinton’s "basket of deplorables" comment.
The Logistics of a Viral Stunt
How do you get a garbage truck to an airport on a few hours' notice? According to Jason Miller, a senior advisor to Trump, the team moved fast. They reached out to Loadmaster, a company based in Norway, Michigan. Andrew Brisson, the vice president of Loadmaster, later told news outlets that the campaign just asked if they could provide a truck.
Trump sat in that cab for a good while, taking questions while the engine idled. He looked out the window like he was about to go on a ride-along through the suburbs. He talked about how he didn't know the comedian from the Madison Square Garden rally. He talked about how much he loved Puerto Rico. It was classic Trump showmanship—turning a perceived insult into a visual prop.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Video
A lot of the online chatter focused on the "missed handle." If you watch the trump garbage truck video closely, you see Trump reach out, and his hand slips or misses the grip. For ten minutes on X (formerly Twitter), that was the only thing people talked about. Critics used it to question his physical fitness. Supporters ignored it, focusing instead on the "genius" of the branding.
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But the real nuance lies in the vest.
Trump didn't just wear the safety vest for the truck ride. He kept it on for the entire rally that followed. He walked onto the stage in Green Bay, still shimmering in neon orange, and told the crowd, "I have to begin by saying 250 million Americans are not garbage."
It was a calculated move to make his base feel like they were part of an embattled "in-group." He even joked about how his staff told him the vest made him look thinner. Whether it did or not is up for debate, but it certainly made him unmissable.
The Impact on the 2024 Narrative
Political stunts usually have the shelf life of a gallon of milk. This one lingered. Why? Because it physicalized a grievance. In politics, a "gaffe" is just words. A "video" is something people can share, remix, and argue over.
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- It diverted attention away from the Puerto Rico joke controversy.
- It gave his supporters a visual symbol to rally behind (many started showing up to rallies in safety vests).
- It forced the Biden-Harris campaign to spend 48 hours explaining what the President "actually" meant.
The Loadmaster Connection
Interestingly, the truck itself became a bit of a local celebrity. Loadmaster, the small family-owned business that provided the vehicle, saw a massive spike in attention. Andrew Brisson ended up on several news programs explaining that they weren't necessarily making a political statement but were happy to provide the equipment. By early 2025, it was even reported that some of these trucks were invited to be part of the inaugural festivities in Washington D.C.
It’s a weirdly American story: a small Michigan manufacturer gets thrust into a global media circus because a politician needs a prop for a three-minute video.
Actionable Takeaways: How to Analyze Political Stunts
If you're looking back at the trump garbage truck video to understand how modern political optics work, here’s what you should keep in mind:
- Watch the raw footage, not just the clips. The 30-second version you see on TikTok usually has a specific bias. The full 10-minute interaction with the press shows a much more complex (and sometimes rambling) exchange.
- Follow the "Response Loop." Notice how the stunt was a direct reaction to a Biden comment, which was a reaction to a comedian’s joke. This "reaction-chain" is how modern news cycles are built.
- Check the sources. Media outlets like Fox News and CNN covered the same event but focused on entirely different things (the "deplorables" parallel vs. the "missed handle" and the original "garbage" joke).
- Look at the long-term branding. See if the imagery persists. In this case, the orange vest became a staple of the final week of the 2024 campaign.
The next time a major political figure does something that looks "ridiculous" or "random," ask yourself what they are trying to drown out. Usually, the louder the prop, the quieter they want the previous day's headline to be.