On Saturday, Hillary Clinton revealed she “regrets” stating that “half” of the people who support Donald Trump are “deplorables,” CNN reports.
It was a takeback of presidential proportions. According to CNN, Clinton was speaking at a fundraising event late Friday when she made the now-infamous comment. The Democratic nominee decided to detail her interpretation of Trump’s supporters.
“To just be grossly generalistic, you can put half of Trump supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables,” she said. “Right? Racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic, you name it.”
CNN reports Clinton then went on to declare that some of her opponent’s fans are “irredeemable” people who fail to represent America. She even added that “he [Donald Trump] has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people, now have 11 million. He tweets and retweets offensive, hateful, mean-spirited rhetoric.”
Speaking of Twitter, it should go without saying that Trump Tweeted a response to Clinton’s comments.
Wow, Hillary Clinton was SO INSULTING to my supporters, millions of amazing, hard working people. I think it will cost her at the Polls!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 10, 2016
He’s not the only person who took to the Twitterverse. The backlash was swift, though some also used Twitter to say Clinton was right to point out racism among Trump’s supporters.
Although Clinton withdrew her controversial words almost immediately after being called out, CBS News reveals that Trump and his campaign team have already utilized them in an attack ad. The television spot aired Monday.
CNN quotes Clinton as saying that she “won’t stop calling out bigotry and racist rhetoric” in Trump’s campaign. Meanwhile, the Republican nominee’s latest ad is a sign that he also has no plans to reel it in this election season.Â