In her statement Saturday, Clinton was emphatic in condemning what she said was Trump’s racially insensitive campaign. “Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic – you name it”, she said.
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That sent the Trump camp into full attack mode, with campaign spokesman Jason Miller quickly issuing a statement calling Clinton’s actions “deplorable” and characterizing them as a gaffe.
The flap comes as Clinton’s polling lead, according to a Saturday report by the Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project, continues to slide. “He tweets and retweets offensive, hateful, mean-spirited rhetoric”.
Hillary Clinton has claimed that half the supporters of her presidential rival Donald Trump belong in a “basket of deplorables” of racists, homophobes, sexists, xenophobes, and Islamophobes. At the NY restaurant, Clinton bemoaned the people she described as “deplorables”, saying “unfortunately there are people like that”.
“And he has lifted them up”, Clinton continued.
Clinton’s campaign, though, seemed to suggest that Clinton only meant people who attend Trump’s rallies and actively support him – not all Trump voters.
She described the rest of his supporters as people who are looking for change in any form because of economic anxiety and urged her supporters to empathize with them.
The comment drew a sharp rebuke from the Trump campaign, which demanded an apology for disparaging millions of Americans. “I regret saying “half” – that was wrong”, she said. She added: “Now some of those folks, they are irredeemable”.
Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol, a notable Trump critic, tweeted, “Hillary Clinton’s creed: “All men are created equal” – except for those I’ve consigned to the basket of deplorables, who are irredeemable”.
Other Republicans mocked Mrs Clinton, sharing photos of crowd in the Florida venue where Mr Trump spoke on Friday.
Some Clinton supporters said there was truth in her remarks.
But Clinton’s remarks got top billing on Twitter where the hashtag #BasketOfDeplorables was trending, with shows of condemnation and support for Clinton. Trump said in a tweet. I also meant what I said last night about empathy, and the very real challenges we face as a country where so many people have been left out and left behind.
“I won’t stop calling out bigotry and racist rhetoric in this campaign”, she went on, but she offered an olive branch of sorts to downscale Trump voters.
“From the start, Donald Trump has built his campaign on prejudice and paranoia”.
But Clinton proved this weekend that she was not to be outdone, at least in terms of hurling ugly insults at the supporters of her political opposition. Not providing concrete policy plans is a criticism Clinton often brings up about her opponent.
“When you are running for President, you are running to represent all Americans, even the ones you think are deplorable”, said Navarro.
The remark, which some observers compared to 2012 GOP nominee’s infamous “47 percent” comment that undermined his standing with many voters – for which he was forced to apologize -appeared poised to roil an already polarizing and volatile race where both candidates have struggled to connect with key voting blocs.
“We’re moving to the part of the election process where there’s a lot less persuasion of new voters and more persuasion of the people who like you to turn out and work to elect you”, he added. “That may be one conversion therapy I’d endorse”, Clinton joked.
The fact that Clinton’s strategist so quickly worked to clean up the comments telegraphs that they know it’s serious, said Ryan Williams, a former Mitt Romney spokesman who had worked to tamp down public outrage over the Republican’s infamous 2012 remarks that he wouldn’t worry about “47 percent” of USA voters who he described as dependent on government.
Lane also equated the remark with Obama’s 2008 campaign comments.
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-The voters Romney denigrated were voters whose support he was trying to win – working-class, blue-collar families in places like eastern OH and western Pennsylvania who felt the economy had left them behind.
