According to the Oxford dictionary, the word “deplorable” means “shockingly bad in quality; deserving strong condemnation.” That’s a strong word, and that’s the word that Hillary Clinton used to describe half of Trump supporters. The comment was made at a fundraiser for LGBT rights before introducing famous singer Barbara Streisand on Thursday night.
“If I were to be grossly generalistic, I would say you can take Trump supporters and put them in two big baskets. There are what I call the deplorables — the racists, you know, the haters, and the people who are drawn because they think somehow he’s going to restore an America that no longer exists. So just eliminate them from your thinking, because we’ve always had an annoying prejudicial element within our politics. And unfortunately, there are people like that and he has lifted them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people, now have 11 million. He tweets and retweets offensive, hateful, mean-spirited rhetoric.”
(Left Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) (Right Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
She also called his supporters “irredeemable” at the fundraiser which netted 6 million dollars. Tickets were around $50,000 apiece. Immediately, her words generated tremendous backlash from Donald Trump and many Americans. Donald Trump took to social media to blast Clinton. His Twitter statement generated thousands of shares.
“While Hillary said horrible things about my supporters, and while many of her supporters will never vote for me, I still respect them all!”
Mike Pence had plenty to say about the comments made by his opponent as well. He made a statement on Saturday.
‘The truth of the matter is that the men and women who support Donald Trump’s campaign are hard-working Americans, farmers, coal miners, teachers, veterans, members of our law enforcement community, members of every class of this country, who know that we can make America great again.”
As the hashtag “#BasketOfDeplorables” began to trend on Twitter, with many expressing outrage at Clinton’s words, Trump said in a statement that he was not surprised that Clinton had said it because he thinks that’s the way she really feels.
“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? For the first time in a long while, her true feelings came out, showing bigotry and hatred for millions of Americans.”
“Last night I was grossly generalistic. I regret saying half. 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. I’m determined to bring our country together and make our economy work for everyone, not just those at the top. Because we really are stronger together.”
(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Her apology was half-hearted and not enough, many thought. Her statements drew the ire of people who have heavily criticized Donald Trump, including Bill Kristol, the Weekly Standard editor.
“Hillary Clinton’s creed: ‘All men are created equal’ — except for those I’ve consigned to the basket of deplorables, who are irredeemable.”
The previous week, Hillary Clinton was losing modest ground with voters. It is projected by some pundits that her numbers will continue to drop more dramatically and Trump’s campaign will gain ground with less than two months to go before voters take to the polls. Trump used Clinton’s words as a cause to implore people to support his cause.
“Now is the time to show Hillary the consequences of her words. I’m asking you and the millions of hard-working, patriotic Americans whom she just insulted, to fight back with a contribution of $100, $65, $50, $35, $25, $15, or even $5 to elect Donald Trump to the White House.”
