Half of Trump supporters are in basket of deplorables: Hillary Clinton
US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said half the supporters of Republican rival Donald Trump belong in a “basket of deplorables” of people who were racist, homophobic, sexist, xenophobic or Islamophobic.
Speaking at a fundraiser in New York on Friday, Ms Clinton said Mr Trump had given voice to hateful rhetoric through his behaviour as a candidate for the White House.
“To just be grossly generalistic, you can put half of Mr Trump’s supporters into what I call the ‘basket of deplorables,’” she said. “Unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up.”
Some of those were irredeemable, she said, but they did not represent America.
The other basket of Mr Trump’s supporters constituted individuals desperate for change who felt let down by the government and the economy, Ms Clinton added.
“They don’t buy everything he says, but he seems to hold out some hope that their lives will be different,” she said.
Following Ms Clinton’s comments hashtag #BasketOfDeplorables started trending on Twitter with many users either condemning or supporting her remarks.
The hashtag #BasketOfDeplorables was trending on Saturday morning as many Twitter users either condemned or supported Ms Clinton’s remarks.
Twitter user Basketeer Vendetta, under the account Vendetta92429, tweeted a photo of Trump supporters wearing campaign T-shirts and hats, adding: “Proud to be part of the #BasketOfDeplorables with my fellow Americans.”
And Mr Trump himself tweeted: “Wow, Hillary Clinton was SO INSULTING to my supporters, millions of amazing, hard working people. I think it will cost her at the Polls!”
Meanwhile, New York businessman Mr Trump on Friday told his supporters in Pensacola, Florida, that Ms Clinton could shoot someone and not be prosecuted.
“Because she’s being so protected, 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, okay ” he said.
