Clinton aide: Some Trump supporters part of ‘deplorables’

by Jesse Byrnes - 09/12/16 2:17 PM ET

Hillary Clinton’s campaign defended the Democratic presidential nominee on Monday, following criticism of her comment that half of Donald Trump’s supporters are in a “basket of deplorables.”

A Clinton official said that while the nominee has expressed regret over her phrasing, there are at least some Trump supporters her campaign considers to be in the “deplorables” category.

{mosads}”What should she have said? Ten percent? Twenty percent? Five percent? What would have been a more accurate number?” CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon on his show.

“I don’t know, Wolf. It’s certainly a non-zero number,” Fallon responded.

Earlier Monday, Trump called Clinton’s remarks “the single biggest mistake of the political season” and called on her to retract her comments or drop out of the race for the White House.

“The disdain that Hillary Clinton expressed for millions of decent Americans disqualifies her from public service,” Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, said during a speech in Baltimore.

“You cannot run for president if you have such contempt in your heart for the American voter, and she does. You can’t lead this nation if you have such a low opinion for its citizens,” Trump said.

Clinton on Saturday said she was wrong to generalize that “half” of Trump’s supporters fell into a “basket of deplorables,” while defending her attack on certain elements of his support.

“The mistake I think, Wolf, was trying to quantify it,” Fallon said Monday on CNN’s “Wolf.”

Fallon mentioned former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke’s support of Trump’s candidacy and Trump’s hiring of Stephen Bannon from the far-right Breitbart News website to be his campaign’s chief executive as examples of Trump lending credence to the so-called alt-right movement, a hardcore conservative sect often associated with white nationalism.

The Clinton aide argued that “while every Donald Trump supporter is not necessarily a member of the alt-right, it seems that the alt-right is fully aligned with Donald Trump.”

He also argued that Clinton would compete for “the vast majority” of Trump’s supporters.

“The vast majority of those people that are with Donald Trump right now are people that we’re going to continue to compete for, the people that want to see the economy improve,” he insisted.

“But it’s undeniable that there continues to be an element that Donald Trump promotes and continues to condone with a wink and a nod — these white nationalist sentiments, these hate-filled elements of his campaign,” Fallon said.

Tags Donald Trump Hillary Clinton