But for most of the statement, she attacked her rival, accusing him of building “his campaign largely on prejudice and paranoia” and giving a national platform to “hateful views and voices, including by retweeting fringe bigots with a few dozen followers and spreading their message to 11 million people”. His campaign struggled to recover after the remark leaked.
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Some of those were irredeemable, she said, but they did not represent America. Hillary Clinton blasted Donald Trump on Thursday for his condemnation of American military generals and his praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying her Republican opponent had “failed” at proving he can be commander in chief.
The other basket of Mr Trump’s supporters constituted individuals desperate for change who felt let down by the government and the economy, Mrs Clinton added. “So just eliminate them from your thinking, because we’ve always had an annoying prejudicial element within our politics”. “Doesn’t really even matter where it comes from”. They won’t wake up and see their jobs disappear, lose a kid to heroin, feel like they’re in a dead-end. “I regret saying “half” – that was wrong”, she said in her non-apology apology statement.
Trump, along with his running mate Mike Pence, responded on Saturday by criticizing the comments Hillary made on Friday.
But Mrs Clinton later stepped back her remarks and issued a statement.
Singer Barbara Streisand performed at the fundraiser, with a version of Stephen Sondheim’s song Send in the Clowns, parodying Mr Trump.
Clinton’s comments amount to startlingly blunt talk for a candidate that is usually measured in her assessment of the Republican nominee.
“I won’t stop calling out bigotry and racist rhetoric in this campaign”, Clinton said. She also fleshed out several national security priorities if she is elected, including trying to take out the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militant group and vowing to defeat the extremist group without putting USA troops on the ground in Iraq or Syria. “His disregard for the values that make our country great is profoundly risky”.
The poll’s assistant director, Peter A. Brown, said: “The obvious takeaway from these numbers is that Donald Trump has staged a comeback from his post-Democratic convention lows. But they are not America”.
With less than two months to go before Election Day, and the race still tight, Clinton walked back her remark on Saturday.
“I’ve made my share of mistakes”.
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Among Democrats’ concerns is the fact that Clinton spent a great deal of time over the summer raising millions of dollars in private fundraisers – while Trump was devoting much of his schedule to rallies, speeches and TV appearances. “That may be one conversion therapy I endorse”.
