Clinton made her comments at an LGBT fundraiser in NY late Friday, adding that Trump supporters are “The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic – you name it”.
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Hillary Clinton on Saturday expressed regret for saying half of Donald Trump’s supporters belonged in a “basket of deplorables” the previous evening ― but pledged to continue to call out the bigotry and racism of the Republican nominee.
The difference this time was that she put a number on it.
“To just be grossly generalistic, you can put half of Trump supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables”. A campaign spokesperson emphasized how many “alt-right” leaders support Trump for president and that their message comes through at his rallies. “Right? Racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic, you name it”, Hillary Clinton told the crowd at an LGBT fundraiser on Friday night.
Republicans instantly cried foul. Trump tweeted Saturday morning. At most it’s 49 percent, and the average is only 43 percent.
One the one hand, both are very broad, extremely negative generalizations about large segments of the American public.
They are more likely to describe Africans Americans as “criminal”, “unintelligent”, “lazy”, and “violent”.
She told 1,000 lesbian, “gay”, bisexual and transgender donors in NY that half of Trump supporters hold hateful views that put them in a “basket of deplorables”, calling them “irredeemable”.
“No conversation about our national security would be complete unless we acknowledged that the nominee on the other side promises to do things that will make us less safe”, Clinton told reporters.
Clinton has not let the media attend many fundraisers, but a group of journalists was given access to Friday night’s (Saturday NZT) event to hear her.
“Just when Hillary Clinton said she was going to start running a positive campaign, she ripped off her mask and revealed her true contempt for everyday Americans”, he said. And many GOP voters either don’t pay federal income tax because they don’t make enough money and/or are also at least partially reliant on government programs.
Typical Hillary shill. The Reuters poll he links to clearly shows that less than half of Trump’s supporters are deplorable.
In an effort to explain the support behind Trump, Clinton went on to describe the rest of Trump supporters as people who are looking for change in any form because of economic anxiety and urged her supporters to empathize with them.
It’s also important that Clinton has avoided directly calling Trump a racist, instead putting the emphasis on the rhetoric he’s promoting.
Remember, this isn’t a new formulation.
The Democratic nominee made similar comments in an interview the day before with an Israeli television station.
Clinton has lit a fire here by attaching a specific figure to her claims – just as Romney did.
“Hillary’s kind … smart, that’s clear”, she said. I mean, you can say, oh, isn’t that a awful thing – the man has very strong control over a country. But it’s at least along the lines of a narrative she’s been pushing.
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“We can’t take anyone or any place for granted and therefore I am asking you to volunteer for a phone bank or a canvass”.
