The Punctuation Heard - or Imagined - 'Round the World

If an apostrophe falls in a presidential campaign, does it make a sound?

If this whole election comes down to an apostrophe, I’m gonna be so mad.

Last night, on a call meant to rally Latino voters, President Joe Biden definitely said one of three things:

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

or:

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

or:

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

That little apostrophe — or lack thereof — changes the sentence’s meaning.

If it follows the final S in supporters, making a plural possessive — as it did in the initial transcript the White House provided — then it’s referring to the hate, division and nastiness exhibited by those who support him.

If it precedes the final S in supporters, making a singular possessive — as it did in the revised transcript the White House provided a few hours later — then it’s referring solely to the hate, division and nastiness exhibited by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who made the now-infamous remark at a Trump rally at Madison Square Garden this past weekend, “There’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.”

But if there’s no apostrophe — as well-known apostrophe aficionado Donald Trump is claiming — then we could have another “basket of deplorables” moment on our hands … precisely at the moment when Vice President Kamala Harris is working overtime to project a message of unity, as she did on the only national landmark almost named for a punctuation mark. In that case, it looks like Biden is referring to all Trump supporters as garbage.

Let’s pause for a minute to appreciate the folksiness of Biden’s remark, regardless of where and if he intended the possessive. At a time when Trump and Vance are hurling words like “bitch,” “dipshit,” “shit vice president” and “mentally disabled” at Harris, a retort like “garbage” sounds positively Rockwellian, whether it’s used to describe Trump, his supporters or his supporters’ words.

And those clutching their pearls over possibly being called “garbage” seem unfazed by Trump referring to Democrats as “sick,” “evil,” “lunatics” and “the enemy from within.” But hey, it’s been a while since hypocrisy mattered in politics.

So back to punctuation.

Most of the time, it’s good that apostrophes don’t make a sound. We can hear changes in tone and pitch when an exclamation point or a question mark appears, but apostrophes keep quiet. Even parentheses and ellipses can cause the voice to modulate, dropping down or trailing off to indicate how that punctuation sounds. But not apostrophes.

Some might be tempted to pronounce a plural possessive as “supporters-es,” which is just as unforgivable as calling Puerto Ricans garbage. However, in this case, it would help clear things up, as we’ll never know which meaning Biden intended, and the right will do everything they can to claim they know where the apostrophe lies in Biden’s heart.

Through it all, the apostrophe remains silent.

Silent but deadly? We’ll know in a week.