Donald Trump climbed into a garbage truck at a campaign event in Wisconsin in a stunt to highlight Joe Biden’s slur on his supporters.

The former president donned a vest over his shirt in the style of a refuse collector’s uniform and sat in the passenger seat of a white vehicle that also carried his name.

Trump wanted to draw attention to a remark made earlier this week by his successor, President Biden, that suggested Trump’s supporters were “garbage”.

“How do you like my garbage truck?” Trump said at Tuesday’s event in Green Bay. “This is in honour of Kamala and Joe Biden.”

Trump and other Republicans had been facing criticism following a rally in New York on Sunday when a comedian described Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage”.

But his campaign then seized on a gaffe by Mr Biden on Wednesday when he said: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.”

Trump also tried to distance himself from comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who made the joke but said he did not need to apologise to Puerto Ricans.

“I don’t know anything about the comedian,” Trump said. “I don’t know who he is. I’ve never seen him. I heard he made a statement, but it was a statement that he made. He’s a comedian, what can I tell you. I know nothing about him.”