Washington Post columnist: Half of Trump’s supporters are racists

A Washington Post columnist writes that Hillary Clinton was correct in saying that half of Donald Trump’s supporters are in a “basket of deplorables.”

 

Dana Milbank argues in his latest column that the Democratic presidential nominee “might have low-balled the number” when it comes to “Trump’s racist support.”

 

{mosads}”This election has proved that there is much more racism in America than many believed. It came out of hiding in opposition to the first African American president, and it has been welcomed into the open by Trump,” Milbank wrote.

 

Milbank acknowledged that Clinton’s comment may have been unwise, likening it to 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s “binders full of women” remark, but argued Trump has benefitted from voters who fear white people are losing ground.

 

“Few people embrace the ‘racist’ label, so let’s help them. If you are ‘very enthusiastic’ about a candidate who has based his campaign on scapegoating immigrants, Latinos and African Americans, talked of banning Muslims from the country, hesitated to disown the Ku Klux Klan and employed anti-Semitic imagery — well, you might be a racist. But if you are holding your nose and supporting Trump only because you think him better than Clinton, that doesn’t put you in the basket,” Milbank wrote.

 

A Clinton aide on Monday acknowledged Clinton made a mistake in “trying to quantify” the number of “deplorables” supporting the Republican nominee but maintained that it was a “non-zero” number.

 

Clinton has been going after white nationalists and others who have supported Trump, arguing that his campaign has lent credence to them. 

 

Trump has slammed Clinton over the “deplorables” remark and called on her to retract it or drop out. Clinton over the weekend said she regretted generalizing but defended the attack on some elements supporting the businessman.