Donald Trump on Monday continued to attack Hillary Clinton over her “basket of deplorables” remark, saying: “You can’t lead this nation if you have such a low opinion of its citizens.”
“If Hillary Clinton will not retract her comments in full, then I don’t see how she can credibly campaign,” Trump said during a speech in Baltimore at a conference of the National Guard Association of the United States.
WATCH:
Trump on Clinton: “You cannot run for president if you have such contempt in your heart for the American voter” https://t.co/zGg12nLQX0
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) September 12, 2016
On Friday night, Clinton said at a fundraiser: “You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the ‘basket of deplorables.’ Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic — you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up.”
Trump’s campaign says she was deriding millions of good people with her remark. Clinton later issued a statement saying: “Last night I was ‘grossly generalistic,’ and that’s never a good idea. I regret saying ‘half’ — that was wrong.”
On Monday, Trump’s campaign began running a new television ad in swing states drawing attention to the remark. “You know what’s deplorable? Hillary Clinton viciously demonizing hard working people like you,” the ad’s narrator says.
In his speech Monday in Baltimore, Trump said: “Hillary Clinton made these comments at one of her high-dollar fundraisers in Wall Street. She and her wealthy donors all had a good laugh. They were laughing at the very people who pave the roads she drives on, paint the buildings she speaks in, and keep the lights on in her auditorium.”
“After months of hiding from the press, Hillary Clinton has revealed her true thoughts,” Trump said. “She revealed herself to be a person who looks down on the proud citizens of our country as subjects for her to rule over.”