“As I said, many of Trump ” s supporters are hard-working Americans who just don’t feel like the economy or our political system are working for them.
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Trump also sought on Friday to blame Clinton after reports that North Korea had tested a nuclear weapon, arguing it was the fourth such test since the Democrat became secretary of state in 2009 and that she should have ended the nation’s nuclear program before her tenure ended.
“She gave an entire speech about how the alt right movement is using his campaign to advance its hate movement”, Merrill tweeted.
Addressing the issue of Trump’s popularity, Clinton said: “To just be grossly generalistic, you can put half of Trump supporters into what I call the ‘basket of deplorables.’ Right?” And unfortunately there are people like that. “And he has lifted them up”.
Polls suggest Clinton’s former likely eight-point lead has disappeared, although she is still favoured to win the presidency, for now.
Clinton then pivoted and tried to characterise the other half of Trump’s supporters, putting them in “that other basket” and saying they need understanding and empathy.
Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway fired back.
Reporter: Now the Clinton campaign this morning trying to clarify that deplorables comment saying clearly not everyone supporting trump is hateful but a spokesman say they appear to make up half his crowd when you observe the tone of his events.
She later added, “Hillary, placing people in ‘baskets, ‘ slandering them but admitting after 8 yrs, they are “desperate for change”.
Those remarks were seized on by Clinton, his primary opponent, as evidence that he was disconnected from many Americans.
NY businessman Trump, who has never previously run for political office, regularly says things that some consider insulting or off-colour.
On Friday night, he told supporters in Pensacola, Florida, that Clinton could shoot someone and not be prosecuted.
The crowd laughed when she made the “basket of deplorables” remark, which starts at about 1:27 into the video above.
Trump also injected drama into the national security debate this week by wholeheartedly endorsing Russian President Vladimir Putin as a strong leader who has fared better than US President Barack Obama.
Clinton made her comments at an LGBT fundraiser in NY late Friday, then walked them back Saturday, saying in a statement that it was “grossly generalistic, and that’s never a good idea”. Trump has promised to build a wall between the USA and Mexico, if he wins the November election, to stem the flow on migrants into the U.S.
Mrs Clinton has made similar comments in the past. “When you are running for President, you are running to represent all Americans, even the ones you think are deplorable”, said Navarro.
More than two-thirds, 69 percent, said Clinton was too willing to bend the rules.
The media are often prevented from attending Mrs Clinton’s fundraisers, but Friday’s event, which featured a performance from Barbara Streisand, had been open to journalists.
In the 2012 presidential campaign, Romney and his GOP allies lost control of the public relations crisis because they made a decision to defend the remark.
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The group was quickly escorted out of the arena by security – along with a large group of bikers who support Trump.
