The Washington Post editorial board has taken the lead in the media:
Imagine how history would judge today’s Americans if, looking back at this election, the record showed that voters empowered a dangerous man because of . . . a minor email scandal. There is no equivalence between Ms. Clinton’s wrongs and Mr. Trump’s manifest unfitness for office.
Dangerous man. Unfit for office. So Hillary Clinton got blunt, about the ticket:
And if you have read about the ones he says he’s likely to support, he’s not kidding. In fact, if you look at his running mate, his running-mate signed a law that would have allowed businesses to discriminate against LGBT Americans. And there’s so much more than I find deplorable in his campaign: the way that he cozies up to white supremacist, makes racist attacks, calls women pigs, mocks people with disabilities — you can’t make this up. He wants to round up and deport 16 million people, calls our military a disaster. And every day he says something else which I find so personally offensive, but also dangerous. You know, the idea of our country is so rooted in continuing progress that we make together. Our campaign slogan is not just words. We really do believe that we are stronger together. We really do believe that showing respect and appreciation for one another lifts us all up.
And its supporters:
I know there are only 60 days left to make our case — and don’t get complacent, don’t see the latest outrageous, offensive, inappropriate comment and think well he’s done this time. We are living in a volatile political environment. You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right?
[Laughter/applause]
The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic — you name it. And 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. But the other basket — and I know this because I see friends from all over America here — I see friends from Florida and Georgia and South Carolina and Texas — as well as, you know, New York and California — but that other basket of people are 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. It doesn’t really even matter where it comes from. They don’t buy everything he says, but he seems to hold out some hope that their lives will be different. They won’t wake up and see their jobs disappear, lose a kid to heroine, feel like they’re in a dead-end. Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well.
And some are saying she went too far. She did not.
The polls and the examples of their unhinged extremism may not amount to exactly half of Donald Trump’s supporters, but the numbers and the examples are disturbingly frequent and large. And to be really blunt, in many ways Hillary Clinton was being too kind. Because no matter their excuses and rationales, every single Trump supporter is seeking to enable and empower a man running on a platform of bigotry and extremism. A dangerous man, unfit for office.
They’ve got murder on their minds now.
At the previous Donald Trump rally I’d attended, in Greensboro, North Carolina, Hillary Clinton was called a “bitch” more times that I could count. “Trump That Bitch” was the most common refrain. They shouted it from the rafters, wore T-shirts emblazoned with it. But at a rally in Raleigh on Tuesday night, a new cry rang out:
“Hang that bitch!”
Deplorable?
xYouGov data: "A third of Mr. Trump’s backers believe that Japanese internment during World War II was a good idea." https://t.co/9z1lGd4Ti0
— Gabe OrtÃÂz (@TUSK81) September 10, 2016Public Policy Polling just released the results of their new national poll, and what they learned about Donald Trump’s supporters is pretty much exactly what you would expect: 61 percent don’t believe President Obama was born in America, 62 percent think he is a secret Muslim, and 63 percent want the U.S. Constitution amended to end birthright citizenship.
Nearly 20 percent of Donald Trump's voters in the South Carolina primary disagreed with Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which freed slaves in the Southern states during the Civil War, The New York Times reports, citing exit poll data.
Deplorable?
xAt a presser today, Alt Right leaders discussed what they refer to as "the Jewish question" https://t.co/VssPMI0e75
— Betsy Woodruff (@woodruffbets) September 10, 2016Per Reuters, “nearly half” of Trump supporters said Black people are more “violent” than their White counterparts—a view that was shared by nearly one-third of Clinton’s backers. When asked where they want to live, 36 percent of Trump’s supporters said, “I prefer to live in a community with people who come from diverse cultures.” Seventy percent of Clinton’s supporters said the same, along with 46 and 55 percent of Cruz and Kasich’s backers, respectively.
Deplorable?
xReally media entertainers please act shocked!!! No one has seen open notorious & obvious racism by Trump supporters pic.twitter.com/rN7T0PvuLr
— RiotWomenn (@riotwomennn) September 10, 2016New polling out of South Carolina suggests 31 percent of Donald Trump‘s supporters would support banning gays from the United States.
Deplorable?
x"Build the wall! F*ck those dirty beaners!"Definitely some "economic anxieties" there. #BasketOfDeplorableshttps://t.co/lcLTqK95iM
— Gabe OrtÃÂz (@TUSK81) September 10, 2016Voters supporting Donald Trump are more than twice as likely to hold an unfavorable view of American Muslims, according to the results of the latest NBC News/SurveyMonkey national online poll released Friday.
According to the results, two-thirds (67 percent) of those identifying themselves as Trump supporters said they do not hold favorable views of Muslim Americans, compared to just 35 percent in the of all voters who said they feel that way. Nearly 9-in-10 (87 percent) said they support Trump's call to institute a temporary ban on Muslims who are not American citizens from entering the United States, while 47 percent of all voters who responded that way.
Deplorable?
xeveryone covering this race recognizes the "basket of deplorables."everyone covering this race demands "authenticity" from HRC404 ERROR
— Jason Linkins (@dceiver) September 10, 2016It appears Donald Trump’s misogynistic ways — much like his inciting violence — have rubbed off on his supporters.
In recent weeks, anti-Hillary Clinton buttons, T-shirts and bumper stickers have begun turning up at Trump events, each one more cruel and disgraceful than the last.
Deplorable?
xA new batch of anti-Hillary-Clinton buttons popped up outside Donald Trump's rally tonight: pic.twitter.com/VxKkxSS2We
— Jenna Johnson (@wpjenna) May 3, 2016Police in Janesville, Wisconsin, are searching for two Donald Trump rally attendees who pepper sprayed and sexually assaulted a 15-year-old anti-Trump protester outside the Republican presidential frontrunner’s rally on Tuesday. Video of the incident shows other apparent Trump supporters shouting “bitch” and “nigger lover” to the teenager as she attempts to walk away with pepper spray in her eyes.
Deplorable?
xWe all recall of course Trump apologies to the disabled, Mexicans, Judge Curiel, Khans, McCain, Megyn Kelly, etc. https://t.co/HxdnEHunQW
— Max Boot (@MaxBoot) September 10, 201610 Times Donald Trump Supporters Were Blatantly Racist
Deplorable?
x"Mexicans are rapists!"He tells it like it is!#BasketOfDeplorablesMercy me! Outrageous!
— David Waldman (@KagroX) September 10, 2016Below: A running list of violent incidents involving Donald Trump supporters, protesters, members of the media, and campaign/security staff at Trump events. (Note: List does not include incidents that took place only between protesters and police outside Trump rallies.)
The violence and angry rhetoric at Trump's well attended rallies has not abated since the billionaire became the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. In part, that's because the candidate continues to rev up his most ardent supporters and taunt his foes at a time when he desperately needs to appeal to independent and moderate voters.
Donald Trump’s ascent to the top of the Republican presidential candidate heap has been increasingly likened to the rise of Adolf Hitler, as both men have used racist rhetoric and blamed select groups of minorities for many of the country's problems.
On Saturday, that comparison became even more apparent when footage surfaced of Trump at a rally in Orlando, Florida, that was eerily reminiscent of 1930s Nazi rallies.
Toward the end of his speech, Trump can be seen addressing the crowd forcefully. He tells them to raise their right hand and asks them to repeat after him that they will vote for him for president, no matter what.
Deplorable?
xThis is the tell: The look on her face a split second after she did it.She's out of the closet, baby. pic.twitter.com/h7ta1NZyCu
— Billmon (@billmon1) July 21, 2016