Social conservative say Hillary Clinton’s description of half of Mr. Trump’s supporters as “deplorable” reflects her “elitist” tendencies and will further unify voters against her.
“Deplorable? I am very insulted,” said Elizabeth Harrison of Virginia. “But it just pretty much confirms what I always thought about her — she is an elitist. She just looks down on most of the American people as subjects more than constituents.”
Ms. Harrison is among the more than 2,000 attendees that turned out for the 11th annual Values Voters Summit here in Washington, where there is a mix of voters who have been supporting Mr. Trump since early on in the GOP presidential race and some that are still torn over his candidacy.
Most of them, though, shudder at the idea of Mrs. Clinton becoming the 45th president of the United States.
The Democrat reinforced that idea with her comments at a fundraiser Friday night in New York, where she cast a broad swath of Trump backers in a negative light.
“To just be grossly generalistic, you can put half of Trump supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables,” Mrs. Clinton said. “Right? Racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic, you name it.”
She said the rest of them feel that government has let them down.
“Those are people we have to understand and empathize with,” Mrs. Clinton said.
Ms. Harrison predicted Mrs. Clinton’s comments will backfire against her.
“I think it is unifying,” she said. “For her to say we are deplorable, gosh, hopefully that will energize people and see how she views the American people.”
Mary Beth Kustra, also of Virginia, said Mrs. Clinton is getting desperate and turning to a divide and conquer strategy.
“That is what they are trying to do,” Mrs. Kustra said. “That is their technique now. They want you to be embarrassed to be voting for Trump, and that is all they have in their quiver right now.”
Her husband, Richard, offered a more blunt assessment.
“It pissed me off,” Mr. Kustra said, adding that he could never vote for Mrs. Clinton.
“She could call me up and promise me the Porsche that I have always craved and I would probably say, ’No, it is not worth it,’” he said.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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