USA TODAY International Edition
Clinton regrets ‘ deplorables’ remark about Trump backers
Rival’s team says comment shows her contempt for everyday Americans
Hillary Clinton was on cleanup duty Saturday after saying at a fundraiser the previous night that half of Donald Trump’s supporters, who numbered 13.3 million in the Republican primaries, fall into the “basket of deplorables.”
“Last night I was ‘ grossly generalistic,’ and that’s never a good idea,” she said in a statement. “I regret saying ‘ half’ — that was wrong.”
She added, “Many of Trump’s supporters are hardworking Americans who just don’t feel like the economy or our political system are working for them.” Still, Clinton said she won’t stop “calling out bigotry and racist rhetoric in this campaign.”
She had been speaking at an LGBT event in New York on Friday when she said:
“You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right?” she told the crowd, which reacted with laughter and applause. “The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic — you name it. And, unfortunately, there are people like that.”
“And he has lifted them up,” Clinton continued. “He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people — now have 11 million. He tweets and retweets their offensive, hateful, mean- spirited rhetoric.”
The remarks sent the Trump camp into full attack mode, with campaign spokesman Jason Miller quickly issuing a statement saying Clinton’s comments are what’s deplorable.
“Just when Hillary Clinton said she was going to start running a positive campaign, she ripped off her mask and revealed her true contempt for everyday Americans,” he said.
Trump’s vice presidential running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence weighed in, too. He told the conservative Value Voters Summit in Washington, D. C., on Saturday: “No one with that low of an opinion of the American people should ever be elected to the highest office in the land.”
“He tweets and retweets their offensive, hateful, meanspirited rhetoric.” Hillary Clinton at N. Y. fundraiser