Clinton, who has said she is the candidate to unify a divided country, made the comment at an LGBT fundraiser Friday night at a New York City restaurant, with about 1,000 people in attendance.
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Mike Pence, the Governor of IN and Mr Trump’s running mate, said Mrs Clinton’s “low opinion of the people that support this campaign should be denounced IN the strongest possible terms”. Pence, the IN governor, said Clinton had insulted “hardworking Americans”.
Twitter user Basketeer Vendetta, under the account Vendetta92429, tweeted a photo of Trump supporters wearing campaign T-shirts and hats, adding: “Proud to be part of the #BasketOfDeplorables with my fellow Americans”.
He added that millions of Americans support the Republican nominee because, “they are sick of corrupt career politicians like Hillary Clinton”. But reporters traveling with her campaign were not allowed in and did not see her. This time, however, it was Republicans who thought their opponent had wandered into political damaging territory.
Or maybe the almost three-quarters of Republicans who either don’t believe or doubt President Barack Obama was actually born in America, a figure that is so high in large part because of the efforts of Trump that go back to at least 2011?
Jason Miller, Trump’s senior communications adviser, said in a statement that Clinton’s remarks “revealed just how little she thinks of the hard-working men and women of America”.
“Last night I was “grossly generalist, ‘ and that’s never a good idea”, Clinton said in a statement to Us Weekly on Saturday”.
“Let me just say, from the bottom of my heart, Hillary, they are not a basket of anything”, Pence continued.
With less than two months to go before Election Day, and the race still tight, Clinton walked back her remark on Saturday.
Clinton said half of Trump’s supporters appeared to be racist, homophobic, sexist, xenophobic, or Islamophobic. “She was basically caught. If you’re not a bigot, her comments shouldn’t offend you”. “It demonstrates the type of person she really is”.
Trump’s running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, lambasted Clinton in a speech at a gathering of conservative voters, and campaign officials instructed surrogates to highlight Clinton’s remarks in their public appearances.
The Democratic presidential nominee sparked an uproar late Friday when she described Trump’s supporters at a fundraiser.
Opinion polls suggest Mr Trump is gaining on Mrs Clinton.
“It’s phony strength to not know what you’re talking about and to make outrageous statements that will actually make our job harder no matter how in the moment it sounds”, she said.
Trump is calling Clinton’s comments a “grotesque attack” and questioning how she can be president when “she has such contempt and disdain for so many great Americans”.
This year’s September 11 anniversary falls during a pitched presidential campaign and politics hovered even though both candidates pledged to suspend political activities out of respect for the victims, first responders and their families.
Republicans had pounced on her remarks. In the end, “you didn’t build that” had no noticeable effect on the outcome.
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. When she took the stage to introduce Barbra Streisand at the NY event, it was only the sixth time her pool of traveling reporters had been allowed into one of her over 330 finance events.
One, she said, was the “basket of deplorables”.
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And while Clinton did say she regretted the comment, she did not apologize to people she may have offended. “Millions of unbelievable, hard-working people”.
