The controversy around Hillary Clinton saying “half” of Donald Trump’s supporters fall into “the basket of deplorables” is what Clinton’s top aides have always been anxious about: a situation in which her trademark caution elevates an inartful comment.
Advertisement
In copping only to a gross generalization, Clinton’s campaign assured that the discussion over deplorables would continue.
Donald Trump said Friday that Hillary Clinton could “shoot somebody” in public and avoid prosecution – echoing a phrase he once used to describe his electoral invulnerability.
It may very well be her last.
And in a bit of cognitive dissonance, numerous same Twitter accounts expressing shock with Clinton’s remarks had, moments earlier, helped make viral a news clip of NBC’s Katy Tur tutoring former Rep. Jack Kingston (a Trump surrogate) on the often racist and Islamophobic tone of Trump events.
On Saturday morning, the clip was played countless times on television and online.
‘I think this will be the last election that the Republicans have a chance of winning because you’re going to have people flowing across the border, ‘ he says. I regret saying “half” ― that was wrong.
“Texas is not in play”, said SMU political science professor Cal Jillson, further predicting that Trump, though a weak candidate, will win the state by as much as eight points. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic-you name it.
The decision to release a statement came after video of the comment was played repeatedly on cable and broadcast news Saturday morning.
But the comments, aided by Trump’s campaign, continued to reverberate. “Hillary Clinton’s low opinion of the people that support this campaign should be denounced in the strongest possible terms”, Pence told the audience. “As long as Trump stays out of the way and doesn’t overshadow Hillary’s comment, her “basket of deplorables” comment should dominate the media in the coming days and runs the risk of negatively defining her campaign”, said Republican strategist Doug Heye. “I’m determined to bring our country together and make our economy work for everyone, not just those at the top”.
Comparing the United States and Russian presidents, Fuller said, left him little doubt as to who the better statesman was: “Putin’s a much stronger leader”. The sheer ugliness of the campaign rhetoric was relieved only by spurts of gibberish and machismo from the syntactically handicapped Trump spigot. But if you really want to understand how November is likely to play out, you should consult state polls.
“Honestly, I don’t know the gentleman, but you know what?”
On Thursday, she called it “frustrating”.
“I’ll tell you this, if we got along with Russian Federation, that wouldn’t be so bad, would it?” Ignore them. She said they’re “irredeemable” and they are.
Some critics likened Clinton’s observation to 2012 Republican candidate Mitt Romney’s “47 per cent” comment in which he said 47 per cent of voters are dependent upon the government and would vote for President Barack Obama no matter what.
That same night, Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov announced a deal for a ceasefire in the war-torn country, set to begin on Monday, and closer co-operation on fighting groups like ISIS.
Another key difference is that Clinton’s comments fit into a narrative she has already been pushing.
But by morning, it was also clear that Clinton’s comments posed problems, both for the awkward word choice ― what exactly are “deplorables”, and why are they being put in a basket?
Advertisement
“This election is about beating back bigotry and hate”, Sellers said in an interview. Even though such briefings are kept under wraps and the briefers are told to be very discreet, Trump claimed that, “In nearly every instance, and I could tell I’m pretty good with the body language I could tell, they were not happy”. “Besides, you don’t need to toady up to lesbians, you’re got their vote”.
