Clinton: ‘Deplorables’ comment was ‘grossly generalistic’
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a LBGT For Hillary Gala at the Cipriani Club, in New York, Friday.
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. >> Hillary Clinton said that she was wrong to put half of Donald Trump’s supporters in a “basket of deplorables,” but didn’t back down from a description of his campaign the Republican nominee said smeared many Americans and would take a political toll.
Less than 24 hours after she made the comments at a private New York City fundraiser, Clinton said in a statement, “last night I was ‘grossly generalistic’ and that’s never a good idea. I regret saying ‘half’ — that was wrong.” But she argued that the word “deplorable” was reasonable to describe much of Trump’s campaign.
“He has built his campaign largely on prejudice and paranoia and given a national platform to hateful views and voices, including by retweeting fringe bigots with a few dozen followers and spreading their message to 11 million people,” the Democratic nominee said.
Responding in a statement, Trump said it was “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?”
Trump added that Clinton was showing “bigotry and hatred for millions of Americans,” arguing that she was “incapable to serve as President of the United States.”
Clinton, who has said she is the candidate to unify a divided country, made the “deplorables” comment at an LGBT fundraiser Friday night at a New York City restaurant, with about 1,000 people in attendance. She has made similar comments recently, including on an Israeli television station.
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“To just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic — you name it,” she said, before stressing that other Trump supporters are frustrated and need sympathy.
Trump and his supporters quickly pounced on the remark, arguing that it revealed Clinton as disconnected from struggling Americans.
“Wow, Hillary Clinton was SO INSULTING to my supporters, millions of amazing, hard-working people. I think it will cost her at the polls!” Trump said in a tweet.
Running mate Mike Pence, in remarks at the Values Voter conference in Washington, shot back: “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.”
Of course, while Clinton is taking heat for her comment, Trump’s brand is controversy. At a rally in Pensacola, Florida, on Friday, he said Clinton is “so protected” that “she could walk into this arena right now and shoot somebody with 20,000 people watching, right smack in the middle of the heart. And she wouldn’t be prosecuted.”
Clinton’s rhetorical stumble came as the candidates head into the final two months of the campaign, with Trump trying to make up ground before the Nov. 8 election.
Clinton has not let the media into many private fundraisers, but press was allowed in to hear her remarks Friday. At the New York restaurant, Clinton bemoaned the people she described as “deplorables,” saying “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 how 11 million. He tweets and retweets their offensive hateful mean-spirited rhetoric. Now, some of those folks — they are irredeemable, but thankfully they are not America,” said Clinton, who was the country’s top diplomat during President Barack Obama’s first term.
Clinton then pivoted and tried to characterize the other half of Trump’s supporters, putting them in “that other basket” and saying they need empathy.
She described them as “people who feel that the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures, and they’re just desperate for change.”
Seeking to explain the statements, Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill said in a series of tweets after the remarks that Clinton has been talking about the “alternative right,” or “alt-right” movement, which often is associated with efforts on the far right to preserve “white identity,” oppose multiculturalism and defend “Western values.” Merrill argued that “alt-right” leaders are supporting Trump and “their supporters appear to make up half his crowd when you observe the tone of his events.”
But the moment recalled comments about voters — also at private fundraisers — that have tripped up presidential nominees in the past.
Weeks before the 2012 election, Republican Mitt Romney landed in hot water for saying that 47 percent of the public would vote for President Barack Obama “no matter what” because they depended on government benefits and his job was “not to worry about those people.”
During the 2008 Democratic primary, then-Sen. Obama said that small-town voters “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
Today, Clinton’s staff said she attended another fundraiser at the Armonk, New York, home of attorney David Boies. But reporters traveling with her campaign were not allowed in and did not see her.
Trump, meanwhile, did not address Clinton’s comment at his only scheduled public appearance on Saturday, a funeral in St. Louis for social conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly.
Trump noted that Schlafly rooted for the underdog, and “the idea that so-called little people, or the little person that she loved so much, could beat the system — often times, the rigged system.”
85 responses to “Clinton: ‘Deplorables’ comment was ‘grossly generalistic’”
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Hillary let the horse is out of the barn. She can’t put it back in the barn with an apology.
Apology for what exactly? Not her fault that so many Trump supporters are so out to lunch.
Out to lunch? Boots is calling someone else “out to lunch”. Things haven’t changed.
Well what else would you call approving the stiffing of young girls? Or thinks Putin is fine only because he thinks Putin gave the Donald a compliment? This is your candidate. lol Enjoy.
Boots… Bill Clinton took repeated trips on the ” Lolita Express”—the private passenger jet owned by billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein—with an actress in softcore porn movies whose name appears in Epstein’s address book under an entry for “massages,” according to flight logbooks obtained by Gawker. The logs also show that Clinton shared more than a dozen flights with a woman who federal prosecutors believe procured underage girls to sexually service Epstein and his friends and acted as a “potential co-conspirator” in his crimes.
Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 in Florida to one count of soliciting underage girls for sex (and one count of adult solicitation), for which he served just over a year in county jail.
The 50% is about what Romney said about the 47% who don’t work and depend upon the government for their welfare payments.
I wished Hillary wouldn’t use Trump’s tactics it getting below the belt. That’s his style.
They said in the convention when they go low we will go high. I think she is at an all time high on the unlikable index now. After going at 1/4 of all America will this comment. A tweeted apology is not enough, you will see in November. Emails, past history, and now this comment will all haunt you till the end.
Yep, big mistake by Hillary’s campaign to go low. Respectfully said, Trump is the master of being an a__. You cannot beat him at his game!
Good quick retraction/apology, though. Too bad she took so long to own up to being CARELESS (not Satanic or criminal) with her email use.
The FBI decided not to prosecute the email case because they simply saw that Clinton wasn’t doing anything criminal, corrupt, or traitorous. NO such evidence. And Trump conspiracy theories don’t count.
Oh oh The monkeys are out. Another good day for Mr Trump.
sarge still believes the birther theory. Thinks Trump marched into the Mexican presidential palace and talked the same way he did when back on US soil, talking in front of a mostly white Republican crowd. Thinks Trump is actually worth $10 billion (lol!). Wishes he had $35,000 to enroll in Trump University, so he can be rich like his idol and date only beautiful models (lolol!).
MillionMonkeys suffers from “Three Monkey Syndrome” when it comes to Hillary – see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.
Gee, I guess that makes me one of the deplorables, and proud of it by the way. When are people going to wise up to Clinton and see her for the lying cheat she is.
Krauthammer was right. Every time crooked Hilliary opens her mouth she steps in it. That’s ok, after she starts WW 3 and the World is destroyed she’ll say we all make mistakes. The main thing is we learn from them. What difference does it make.
She’s a veteran. She took incoming in Bosnia. She was a real hero in Benghazi. E mail gate. White water gate, Clinton Foundation, obstruction of Justice, pay for play.
Obviously not before you Donald supporters realize what a complete liar he is.
Just out of curiosity, why are you a big Clinton supporter? She’s making a small fortune off those (like you) who keep her in office. Its all dishonest. Doesn’t that bother you? What are you getting out of it? Answering by calling Trump a name doesn’t answer Lespark’s comment. Do you realize that if the government requested info from you and you destroyed the evidence you’d end up in jail.
Boots is the type of voter Gruber was talking about.
To etalavera: You nailed it! Repeatedly Gruber “depended” upon such voters. Sad that people don’t pay attention.
I am not a big Clinton supporter but I consider her a lot better than a con man that is probably related to Ron Rewald. It is amazing that anyone would fall for his pure bull. You probably don’t remember Ron but a lot of similarities between Ron and the Donald.
Like a lot of people voting for Clinton, I am not a BIG, blind supporter. Most of us are clear-headed thinkers who are able to see both the good and bad, and make an intelligent choice.
She’s made a number careless mistakes. That’s all the REAL evidence shows. All the “crooked,” “corrupt,” “evil” theories are from Trump’s imagination.
She didn’t do anything traitorous with the emails. There’s little or no underhanded connection between donations to the Clinton Foundation and access to the State Department. She did nothing irresponsible or cruel in the Benghazi incident; it was an unfortunate situation that happened quickly, and the logistics prevented assistance reaching the embassy in time.
Trump fans are okay with him saying things without doing any research or thinking about it; in fact that’s what they like about him, isn’t that true? Well, this is not a Die Hard movie where the hero says a bunch of neat phrases and blows away the enemy. It’s not 1898, when Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders can do all sorts of heroic things with their muskets. If that’s what people want to be “Great Again,” it’s no longer a reality.
We’re talking about the presidency of the United States in the 21st century. You need to pay attention, really listen and think, to make smart choices.
Snowmantoo you fit those descriptions? Sorry.
She needs to think before she talks. But hey, its the same with the Donald, isn’t it?
Pacspo you’re absolutely correct but she needs to leave comments like that to him.
Perhaps that’s why she has hidden from the press for the past 6 months.
the female felon has moved to beast mode after polls have her tied with or trailing trump even though her campaign flooded the media with attack ads.
once assange releases more emails the poll gap will widen.
Assange to release Trump’s taxes? Russian investments to come out? Blow out.
What’s wrong with Russian investments? Interesting that nobody references Hillary and Bill’s “investments” in Saudi Arabia, etc. You should really consider the impact of the latter.
russia, through frank giustra, has paid $100s of millions into the clinton money laundering foundation and was given 20% control of all uranium production capacity in the united states.
russia also funneled $100s of millions into the clinton criminal foundation and received rights to mine uranium in kazakhastan.
the same deal had the female felon and obama shutting down the coal industry in america while pushing approval for russia to conduct coal mining operations in columbia and kazakhastan.
as assange’s wikileaks of hildebeast’s emails expose her using state department leverage in exchange for bribes paid to the clinton slush fund, expect to see her standings in the polls plummet as independent voters are repelled by the grifter’s massive corruption.
Where are Hillary’s transcripts of her Wall Street speeches, the ones she was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for? Why has she refused to release them? Sounds like she’s hiding the fact that her policies will influence and cater to the “Big Money boys.
My guess is Trump’s tax returns would reveal more than just Russian involvement. Some possibilities: Internet porn and/or gambling revenue, paying ZERO taxes for years, donations only for political influence buying, and most likely, being worth a lot less than $10 billion (yeah, right!).
not to forget, massive outsourcing of work to other countries. He’s a self-interested businessman, of course he does that. Yes, it’s bad for American workers, but he doesn’t care.
lol, the Donald has as much chance of winning as it is snowing in Waikiki now. Why would anyone vote for the Donald who has zero political experience and no core beliefs except make me rich. Sorry, this will not spill over to his followers who will only be hit with higher taxes.
The fact that he is not a politician is a real positive. With government running as poorly as it is now, fresh new thinking needs to be interjected. The last thing we need is a presidential dynasty. Hey, aren’t you the same Boots that so ardently supported the rail project?
Just remember change can be for the worse. Shame people have already forgotten GW.
Nope Just remember Obozo.
WOW Boots..you going back to GW! lol
Thank you for your retraction Secretary Clinton. It’s not always a good idea stating the obvious.
The base of people who staunchly support Trump will vote for him no matter what is said and done.
But this statement will not really matter to many voters. What they care about are things that will affect them, their futures, the futures of their children, of our country.
A host of a news channel said they would like Trump to appear on their program, with the caveat that he cannot spend most of his time attacking Clinton, rather, sticking to a discussion of how he would deal with the issues facing the country. He would probably last about two minutes on this hour long show.
Where has Hillary been for the past six months. She’s afraid to make any public news conferences.
Many In Hawaii obviously hadn’t heard some of Hillary’s previous comments. For example, when asked about the greatest threat to the U.S., the answer wasn’t ISIS, it was….Republicans. She really feels that way, which is unfortunate. We’ve had enough divided government. A President is President of everyone, not just their party. Ignoring half the population doesn’t work. A good example is Obamacare. No Republican support, only Democratic support.
When Hillary calls half of the Republicans “deplorables”, she means it; she didn’t merely misspeak. She is just so dishonest, constantly conniving and representing the worst of politics.
She does have a point. Republicans lied us into a stupid war which we are still paying for and left us with a Trillion plus deficit. Yes the republicans are a greater threat. Don’t believe me? Perhaps you should visit Flynt Michigan and drink the public water. A republican achievement.
In any event Isis is not the greatest threat to America. North Korea is a larger potential threat to the US, especially Hawaii. Global warming is a greater threat.
As for Obama care, I guess you are correct. But what do you expect when you push a republican plan? Doomed to failure. Should have pushed medicare for all.
Perhaps you don’t remember the fact that Hillary wholeheartedly supported that war with her congressional vote. She also pushed for the Libya debacle.
No doubt Hillary made a big mistake when she listened to G W Bush. That was stupid. Fact still remains republicans lied and Americans died.
fact is that it was the female felon’s husband, then president bill clinton who signed lraq liberation act of 1998. it was supported by then president bill clinton who said in 1998:
“Iraq admitted, among other things, an offensive biological warfare capability, notably, 5,000 gallons of botulinum, which causes botulism; 2,000 gallons of anthrax; 25 biological-filled Scud warheads; and 157 aerial bombs. And I might say UNSCOM inspectors believe that Iraq has actually greatly understated its production….
“Over the past few months, as [the weapons inspectors] have come closer and closer to rooting out Iraq’s remaining nuclear capacity, Saddam has undertaken yet another gambit to thwart their ambitions by imposing debilitating conditions on the inspectors and declaring key sites which have still not been inspected off limits….
“It is obvious that there is an attempt here, based on the whole history of this operation since 1991, to protect whatever remains of his capacity to produce weapons of mass destruction, the missiles to deliver them, and the feed stocks necessary to produce them. The UNSCOM inspectors believe that Iraq still has stockpiles of chemical and biological munitions, a small force of Scud-type missiles, and the capacity to restart quickly its production program and build many, many more weapons…. ”
it was boot’s bill clinton that lied and americans died.
Boots, the “lie” part has been disproved over and over. Who feeds you talking points? It’s really embarrassing. You need to get out more.
Per this article and poll, she only confirmed what his supporters are saying themselves. For those of Japanese descent,30% also thought the interment was a good thing. http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/02/25/upshot/measuring-donald-trumps-supporters-for-intolerance.html
…..i see this a a good thing for the Trump campaign. If Hillary keeps stepping in it,this will surly be a “Landslide” defeat for the Democratic party! I can’t wait for Julian Assange and Wikileaks to save our country! C’mon Bro!
Hillary is going to unify the country?? You mean Lying Hillary? Cunning Hillary? Pay me first Hillary? If she wins, she will never unify the chasm that will always exist. Trump says it best, What have you got to lose? Things can’t get any worse by the “same ole, same ole”.
You’re right…she will not unify the country. I wonder if there is a Dem out there who feels she will. I doubt it. Trump is not a polished politician, but I do believe he would represent the entire country. Why a majority of Black’s are not supporting him is curious because they’re not not doing well under the current administration, which included Hillary and she vows to continue the same policies. She wants to dramatically increase refugees. Have minorities and entry level workers figured out that will make it harder for them to get a decent paying job?
These politicians on both sides keep blabbing their mouths and when they get backlash from something they say they come back and say that they were wrong. Clinton is coming down to Trumps level. That’s why i quit supporting her and i wouldn’t think of supporting Trump.
Shame on that woman for calling my mom deplorable. That is really out of line and no apology can remedy an emotional outburst like that. Bernie or Bust!
And now, a little music break.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcTGTFNXJss
Haaaaaaaaaaaaa!”can’t touch me”. You know that song best describes Hillary to the hilt!no kidding it does! Back in da day we used to call MC Hammer,”Aunty Hammer” lol. Thanks Tita girl ,i needed a little music break!
Everyone knows Hillary is an unethical, corrupt, lying, unindicted felon dirt bag. The problem is that her supporters don’t care.
No, the problem is that her opponent is a psychotic who can never be President.
The plain fact is that Mrs. Clinton is correct. Just read the comments on here – lying about everything from her fabricated medical condition to a phantom ear piece she wore for the Commander in Chief forum the other night.
Deplorables is actually a spot-on term for Trump supporters. Trump has empowered white supremacists, racists, bigots and imbeciles. That group sure looks deplorable to me.
Still going with the “I hate liars” approach? And supporting Hillary Clinton? Pretty funny.
The only person who keeps saying these words of “Bigots,Supremacist,Racist and Imbecils,is you Klasstri ,but this reaction is expected from frustrated libs. so? is the mod squad gonna protect you again ,as usual? Stop it with the “Race Card’ and all those useless words you resort to.
A “frustrated lib’? Are you stuck in 1960 or something?
Trump is a psychotic. He will never be President.
Perhaps you haven’t read the the Grand Dragon of the California KKK supports Clinton.
The real Hillary has exposed herself, well not literally thank gosh. She is a textbook arrogant progressive. Like little Barry’s “bitter clinger” remark this illustrates the contempt and intolerance progressives have for regular folks. Pop quiz. How much does it cost to have your picture taken with Hillary? Answer $2700. Now that’s deplorable.
Normally I’m not an “I told you so” kind of person but I can’t let this one go. I said recently each time Hillary comes out of the bunker it hurts her cause. Darn if wasn’t spot on correct. She has just irreparably damaged her candidacy by simply speaking her mind. I had a feeling the stress of the constant lying would eventually get to her. All Donald has to do is continue to speak truth to power and he’s got it in the bag. I wonder how all of Clinton’s donors are going to recoup their investments with Hillary in the old folks home.
Ioho, Trump does not speak for the majority of Republicans. Certainly, not for democrats. And most importantly, does not speak for the United States of America.
This sounds like your personal interpretation of the polls.
Republican or Democrat, there are people who feel they have been left behind, forgotten, and there is of course, anger as well. Of course there are people who will not ever vote outside of their party affiliation, as well. Or those Republicans who refuse to support Trump because he does not represent their values.
So, it follows that there are also some people who will support Trump despite his rants, such as “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters”. If that is not deplorable, then we’d like to hear your definition of deplorable.
Clinton apologized, but most people will remember why Clinton made such a statement.
Finally, as to the polls, the only thing that matters is the outcome of this election. Look forward to what the polls say in about 45 days.
Our candidates aren’t focusing what should be important; making America great again and not who’s the greater person! None is greater than the other when both resorts to name calling and degradation of its followers! Our country was fought and defended by many honorable men and women than to have it treated like a common third country, from a boisterous couple of no personal military history between themselves.
It’s very unfair to call the xenophobes, the racists, the neo-nazis, the white nationalists, the KKK members, the sovereign citizens, and the bigots who support Trump “deplorable.” Really? A four syllable word? How about something they can understand?
I apologize. I left sexists and anti-LGBT bigots out of the list above. I’m sure there are even more categories of deplorables whom I can’t (or won’t) think about now.
Wow, Hillary went off-script and apologized? How did her handlers allow that to happen? All seasoned democrats know that an apology is an admission of guilt. She should have gone on camera and shook her finger at the public like Bill did when he got caught diddlin’ the chubby young intern. Humpty Dumpty fell of the wall and the kings horses and men are scrambling to put her back together. Maybe it is time for the democrats to reach out to Bernie if he’s not too busy enjoying his new lakefront vacation home.
Interesting to note that when Trump, Pence and Republican leadership push back against Clinton’s “basket of deplorable” comment they use many arguments, but notably missing is the argument that his supporters are not racist, misogynistic xenophobes. That defense would be so laughable that they don’t even try it.
Trump doing great. Another good day. HiLIARy can’t open her mouth without saying something stoopid. Cough lie cough lie Wiki wiki soon.
Come on people, what it boils down to is to elect the lesser of two evils, and that would be Clinton. For every dinger that Clinton may say, Trump counters with a hundred. He says so many idiotic things that after awhile, it has no affect on people. He is an idiotic bigot.
HiLIARy is a criminal. Come on man.”Make America Great Again”..
Trump, a firehose of insults who has repeatedly retweeted white supremacist messages and accounts, such as “WhiteGenocideTM,” thinks Clinton should apologize for calling some of his supporters “deplorable.” That’s chutzpah.
HilLIARy is supposed to be the more experienced candidate, yet she makes more gaffs than anyone, including Trump. Is she having senior moments? Is it that she just had “short circuited”. Whatever the reason, she would be an embarrassment to be the President of America, let’s make sure we vote against her Hawaii.
More gaffes than Trump? Have you been in a coma since June 2015?
She’s going to win in a landslide. Hawai’i will probably be the most lopsided state for her.
Does she have bigger hands than Trump?
Everyone has bigger hands than Trump. My 6-year-old nephew has bigger you-know-what than Donald. Hillary’s hands aren’t so big, but bigger than Trump’s.
And one of her grossly untrue statement — a lie.
Have any of you seen “The Art of the Deal” by Donald Trump? It’s on Netflix. Trump shows himself for what he is.
Deplorable: hours after the World Trade Center buildings collapsed, Trump bragged that his building was now the tallest in NYC.
“40 Wall Street … actually was the second-tallest building in downtown Manhattan, and it was actually, before the World Trade Center, was the tallest-and then, when they built the World Trade Center, it became known as the second-tallest and now it’s the tallest.”
NY Daily News:
“Donald Trump’s tale about why he took $150,000 in 9/11 money is as tall as the Downtown skyscraper he says he used in recovery efforts, according to government records.
“Though the billionaire presidential candidate has repeatedly suggested he got that money for helping others out after the attacks, documents obtained by the Daily News show that Trump’s account was just a huge lie.
“Records from the Empire State Development Corp., which administered the recovery program, show that Trump’s company asked for those funds for “rent loss,” “cleanup” and “repair” — not to recuperate money lost in helping people.”
Trump doing great. Another good day. HiLIARy can’t open her mouth without saying something stoopid. Cough lie cough lie Wiki wiki soon. Now she even has trouble standing up. Cough in peace. CIP Bye bye Hilly
Donald Trump Jr. told his followers on Instagram this weekend that he’d “made the cut” as one of the “deplorables” and shared an image that portrayed Donald Trump alongside conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and a cartoon icon associated with the white nationalist alt-right. Truly deplorable.
basket of deplorables vs van of deportables.