Hillary Clinton, speaking Friday at a big-ticket fundraiser in New York City, said half of Donald Trump’s supporters could be categorized into a “basket of deplorables”, implying that his backers hold “irredeemable” views on issues of race, gender and religion. “I regret saying ‘half” – that was wrong”, she said in a statement released by her campaign.
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The LA Times right away made sure to dismiss the comparison to Romney’s “47%” comments, printing a list of reasons Clinton’s remarks were somehow better than Romney’s, most notably because Clinton has said Trump’s supporters were “deplorables” before; she just never gave a number before Friday night.
“To just be grossly generalist, you can put half of Trump supporters into what I call ‘the basket of deplorables, ‘” Clinton told donors gathered at a Manhattan restaurant.
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). 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. He tweets and retweets offensive, hateful, mean-spirited rhetoric.
“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?”
Mrs Clinton is still favoured to win 17 states, including many with large, urban populations such as New York, New Jersey and California that heavily influence the outcome of the election.
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.
The presidential candidates greeted supporters on Sunday as they entered the downtown Manhattan memorial. Trump’s running mate Mike Pence, rhetorically addressing Clinton, said that these people “are Americans, and they deserve your respect”.
Ta-Nehisi Coates of The Atlantic could not help but agree, noting that while Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” was politically incorrect, it doesn’t follow that she was wrong about Trump’s supporters.
But Clinton’s campaign found itself explaining the remark after her speech and even some of Trump’s Republican critics said it could cost Clinton votes among independent voters still trying to make up their minds, in part by undercutting her message that she is a unifying leader while Trump is divisive.
Clinton, in an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union”, said Trump already has done real damage during the campaign and the next administration will have to fix it.
“Let’s be clear: What’s really deplorable is that Donald 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”, said Mrs. Clinton.
However, Mrs. Clinton said that she stood by her criticism that the Republican nominee appealed to the worst of America.
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Huffington Post reporter Amanda Terkel reminded Twitter that Donald Trump supported Mitt Romney’s “47% comment”, as though that excused Clinton’s gaffe.
