Staff Reports
Hillary Clinton has taken another swing at Donald Trump and his supporters, proving yet again that the political drama is far from over. Recently, she revisited her infamous “basket of deplorables” remark from 2016, which threw half of Trump’s voters into a dumpster fire of insult. Instead of burying this long-dead hatchet, she decided to dig it up and wield it like a sword in an op-ed for the Washington Post, an outlet that has become her echo chamber of critique against the right.
Clinton, who seems to be auditioning for the role of the perpetual political antagonist, elaborated on her meeting with a former white supremacist turned reeducation enthusiast. It appears the former Secretary of State believes her original comment was not only accurate but could have benefited from a bit more firepower. For her, “deplorable” now feels like a compliment for those loyal to Trump and his agenda—indicating that her imagination for insults has reached new heights. She noted that the bigotry embodied in that half of the electorate isn’t a bug but a feature, as if Trump supporters are merely a collection of moral failures waiting for a worthy critique.
The cringe continues as Clinton reminisces about her remarks in 2016, attempting to mask the insult with an earnest appeal to empathy. She claims to struggle with the idea that some people are irredeemable—a sentiment she still backs 100%. This self-proclaimed Christian persona tries to portray herself as the good cop amid a sea of “hate and violent extremism” that she attributes to the MAGA crowd. Is it radical empathy she’s striving for, or just the urge to label half the nation as undeserving of it? She seemed to prefer portraying herself as both judge and jury in this playground of politics.
Hillary Clinton Doubles Down on Calling Trump Supporters ‘Deplorables,’ Says it’s ‘Too Kind a Word’
"If anything, ‘deplorable’ is too kind a word for the hate and violent extremism we’ve seen from Trump supporters.”https://t.co/tYk043Tw7C pic.twitter.com/tLheZolIYm
— Trump2024_no_matter_what (@TexasTrump2024) September 27, 2024
While Clinton’s latest cavalcade of love seems rooted in concern, many Republicans have reacted with venom, seeing her declarations as nothing short of calling for a political purging. The suggestion of “formal deprogramming” for Trump supporters sounds more like a dystopian plot than a policy proposal. It raises the eyebrows of anyone who believes in freedom—after all, being in a grassroots movement isn’t quite the same as being a member of a hate group. Yet here she is, leaning into the idea that MAGA supporters need some kind of rehabilitation, as if they’ve all joined a cult led by Donald Trump. One can only hope her next book provides a more generous narrative; after all, one might expect a little more nuance from someone who’s been at this game for decades.
Clinton’s latest foray into the political fray serves as a stark reminder of how the battle lines in American politics are still being drawn. By insisting that those who support Trump are simultaneously unworthy of empathy and deserving of reprogramming, she proves that some politicians are eternally stuck in the theatrics of divide-and-conquer. The real question is whether this continuing display of disdain will resonate with anyone outside her base, or if it’s merely a self-gratifying endeavor to maintain relevance in today’s tumultuous political landscape.
