Pence said Clinton “low opinion” of the American people disqualified her from being elected president.
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The comments in question came as Clinton introduced Barbra Streisand during Friday night’s fundraiser with gay and lesbian supporters in NY.
“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. “Right?” She continued, “Some of those folks, they are irredeemable”.
Trump responded on Twitter on Saturday morning, saying that Clinton was “SO INSULTING to my supporters, millions of wonderful, hard working people”.
On Saturday (10 September), Clinton released a statement and said, “Last night I was “grossly generalistic,’ and that’s never a good idea”.
With polls showing that Trump enjoys about 45 percent support, Clinton managed to insult over 22 percent of the country, and Republicans took her to task, beginning with the GOP presidential nominee’s campaign manager.
In an effort to explain the support behind Trump, Clinton went on to describe the rest of Trump supporters as people who are looking for change in any form because of economic anxiety and urged her supporters to empathize with them.
Clinton spoke for another two minutes then abruptly cut herself off, turned and walked away, curtly saying to the press as she turned her back on them, ‘Thank you all‘. Indiana Governor Mike Pence, Trump’s running-mate, also weighed in, comparing Clinton’s remarks to President Barack Obama’s controversial 2008 comments about people who “cling to guns or religion”.
There was even a mock account called “Hillary’s Basket”, with the handle @TheDeplorables, deriding the former first lady and USA senator.
He told a crowded rally in Pensacola that if Iran’s “little boats” circled America’s “beautiful destroyers” during his presidency, “they will be shot out of the water”.
“Hillary Clinton should be ashamed of herself, and this proves beyond a doubt that she is unfit and incapable to serve as President of the United States”, he said. The two candidates are also said to be neck and neck in the key battleground states of OH and Florida.
“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”, she said.
The comments echoed an accusation that Clinton had levied previously – that Trump appeals to and amplifies racist, xenophobic and anti-Semitic viewpoints.
“We mourn for all the lives lost”, said Trump, the Republican nominee and NY real estate mogul.
Romney, in comments unearthed from a closed-door fundraiser, cited 47 percent of people “who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it”. NBC News-Wall Street Journal-Marist poll said Clinton leads Trump by one point among likely voters in Arizona, Nevada and New Hampshire.
Hillary may be concerned because she appears to be losing momentum and national polls.
Clinton’s remarks were aired as she and Trump, her Republican rival and a NY native, visited the memorial to the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers.
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But #BasketOfDeplorables quickly lit up Twitter on Saturday – and the campaign, spurring Clinton’s mea culpa – with both sides weighing in with some clever snark and more than a few epic burns.
