Jim Manley, a Democratic strategist, said that it was not unreasonable for Clinton to highlight bigotry among some Trump supporters, though he said she was also right to walk back her remarks.
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“Isn’t it disgraceful that Hillary Clinton makes the worst mistake of the political season and instead of owning up to this grotesque attack on American voters, she tries to turn it around with a pathetic rehash of the words and insults used in her failing campaign?” “Racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, you name it”. What is “deplorable”, she said, is that Trump “hired a major advocate for the so-called ‘alt-right” movement to run his campaign and that David Duke and other white supremacists see him as a champion of their values.
“To just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables”. I regret saying “half”-that was wrong”, Clinton said, before turning to a criticism of Trump”.
“He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people, now have 11 million”, she continued, referencing Trump’s campaign hire of Breitbart News’ Steve Bannon.
Hillary Clinton should not have described “half” of Donald Trump’s supporters as deplorable.
Of course, while Clinton is taking heat for her comment, Trump’s brand is controversy.
In her statement, Clinton said of Trump: “it’s deplorable that he’s attacked a federal judge for his ‘Mexican heritage, ‘ bullied a Gold Star family due to their Muslim faith, and promoted the lie that our first black president is not a true American”. More than 6 in 10 registered voters who support Trump say they are following the campaign very closely, and 93 percent say they are absolutely certain to vote. After his insult of the family of a slain Muslim soldier, last month he regretted in general terms for things said “in the heat of the moment”.
Forty-two percent of Clinton voters and 41 percent of Trump voters said they wouldn’t feel safe no matter who’s elected, CBS reported, and neither candidate is perceived to be able to handle a crisis well (Clinton, 48 percent; Trump, 43 percent).
The findings come at a time when the margins between Clinton and Trump have narrowed in some battleground states and when some national polls also have shown a tightening in the competition.
Many of Clinton’s fundraisers have been closed to the media, but not the one on Friday night.
But Democratic strategist Jim Manley, who supports Clinton, pointed out that Romney was talking about all voters, and Clinton was specifically describing Trump supporters.
Trump’s campaign hammered on Clinton throughout the day.
“And their supporters appear to make up half his crowd when you observe the tone of his events”. “He tweets and retweets offensive, hateful, mean-spirited rhetoric”. She has made similar comments recently, including on an Israeli television station.
Outrage spread on Twitter nearly immediately after Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” line, which GOP pollster Frank Luntz noted was similar to the campaign-sinking “47 percent” comments made by Mitt Romney in 2012.
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“The comments need to be dissected and put into context”, said Symone Sanders, a Democratic strategist and former spokeswoman for Clinton’s primary opponent, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Heading toward the first presidential debate on September 26, though, Trump still appears to have the more challenging route to victory. People have all kinds of reasons for supporting their candidate. “I think it will cost her at the Polls!”
