Clinton camp doubles down on core of ‘deplorables’ claim
Clinton camp doubles down on core of ‘deplorables’ claim
Liz Goodwin
Hillary Clinton gives a thumbs up as she boards her campaign plane in White Plains, N.Y. (Photo: Brian Snyder/Reuters)
Donald Trump and his campaign seem convinced that Hillary Clinton’s comments last week at a fundraiser calling half his supporters a “basket of deplorables” is a damaging gaffe they can capitalize upon.
But after a brief and limited apology, Clinton and her campaign have doubled down upon the core of the argument, sparking some political commentators to wonder if the “gaffe” was actually a trap that Trump walked into.
On Sept. 9, Clinton said, “To just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of ‘deplorables.‘ Right? The racist, s*xist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic — you name it.” That weekend, she issued a statement expressing regret for saying “half” his supporters fit into that camp.
But since then, both Clinton and her top surrogates have kept at the “deplorables” theme, even as Trump and his team have relentlessly hit her on the comment as proof she is out of touch.
“I have said Donald Trump has run a deplorable campaign,” Clinton said in a radio interview with Tom Joyner that aired Sept. 15, her first day back on the campaign trail since she revealed she had pneumonia on Sept. 11. She vowed to keep “calling out the bigotry and hateful rhetoric” on the trail.
Clinton also mentioned that former KKK leader David Duke and other white supremacists support the GOP nominee. “His running mate, Mike Pence, wouldn’t even call a former KKK leader ‘deplorable,’” Clinton said, referring to a CNN interview in which Pence was asked about Clinton’s comments and would not concede that description of Duke.
Donald Trump speaks to the Economic Club of New York. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
But the Clinton campaign has arguably used the word “deplorable” even more than Trump has. The campaign released an ad using his own past statements against him, making a supercut of Trump asking “how stupid” people are. The Clinton campaign then released another ad with the footage of Pence refusing to call Duke “deplorable.”
“Half might not be the right number, but it ain’t far off,” said former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, a surrogate for the Clinton campaign. “Should she bash the electorate? Probably not. Is she going to lose votes over it? I doubt it very much.”
It’s also unclear if Clinton’s comments were unintentional, as she used the phrase “deplorables” in an earlier interview with an Israeli TV station (though she didn’t peg “half” of Trump’s supporters in that category then).
“Sometimes what happens, and what happened here, is we get into a campaign fundraiser, we’re fired up and to them you say some obvious truths, but sometimes you might go a little bit overboard,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y. “But it’s obviously true that the candidate is deplorable and many people who support him are deplorable.”
READ MORE: https://www.yahoo.com/news/clinton-camp-do...
Liz Goodwin
Hillary Clinton gives a thumbs up as she boards her campaign plane in White Plains, N.Y. (Photo: Brian Snyder/Reuters)
Donald Trump and his campaign seem convinced that Hillary Clinton’s comments last week at a fundraiser calling half his supporters a “basket of deplorables” is a damaging gaffe they can capitalize upon.
But after a brief and limited apology, Clinton and her campaign have doubled down upon the core of the argument, sparking some political commentators to wonder if the “gaffe” was actually a trap that Trump walked into.
On Sept. 9, Clinton said, “To just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of ‘deplorables.‘ Right? The racist, s*xist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic — you name it.” That weekend, she issued a statement expressing regret for saying “half” his supporters fit into that camp.
But since then, both Clinton and her top surrogates have kept at the “deplorables” theme, even as Trump and his team have relentlessly hit her on the comment as proof she is out of touch.
“I have said Donald Trump has run a deplorable campaign,” Clinton said in a radio interview with Tom Joyner that aired Sept. 15, her first day back on the campaign trail since she revealed she had pneumonia on Sept. 11. She vowed to keep “calling out the bigotry and hateful rhetoric” on the trail.
Clinton also mentioned that former KKK leader David Duke and other white supremacists support the GOP nominee. “His running mate, Mike Pence, wouldn’t even call a former KKK leader ‘deplorable,’” Clinton said, referring to a CNN interview in which Pence was asked about Clinton’s comments and would not concede that description of Duke.
Donald Trump speaks to the Economic Club of New York. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
But the Clinton campaign has arguably used the word “deplorable” even more than Trump has. The campaign released an ad using his own past statements against him, making a supercut of Trump asking “how stupid” people are. The Clinton campaign then released another ad with the footage of Pence refusing to call Duke “deplorable.”
“Half might not be the right number, but it ain’t far off,” said former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, a surrogate for the Clinton campaign. “Should she bash the electorate? Probably not. Is she going to lose votes over it? I doubt it very much.”
It’s also unclear if Clinton’s comments were unintentional, as she used the phrase “deplorables” in an earlier interview with an Israeli TV station (though she didn’t peg “half” of Trump’s supporters in that category then).
“Sometimes what happens, and what happened here, is we get into a campaign fundraiser, we’re fired up and to them you say some obvious truths, but sometimes you might go a little bit overboard,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y. “But it’s obviously true that the candidate is deplorable and many people who support him are deplorable.”
READ MORE: https://www.yahoo.com/news/clinton-camp-do...
As always, we would like to open this topic to the floor for discussion.