Heilemann: Clinton ‘Deplorables’ Remark Close to the Dictionary Definition of Bigoted

Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” while discussing Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s Friday night comments describing half of Republican nominee Donald Trump’s supporters as “deplorables” driven by “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic” beliefs, Bloomberg Politics co-managing editor John Heilemann said Clinton’s comment “kind of gets very close to the dictionary definition of bigoted.”

Heilemann said,”Comparatively speaking, her apology was relatively clean. I do think it violates the kind of fundamental campaign tenet, which is it’s fine to attack your opponent, but you should really stay away from attacking the electorate. The other thing that’s problematic about it is this is that Donald Trump has attacked her as a bigot over and over again, right? And there’s no real — there was never before this moment, there was never a time in which you could — you could kind of justify that, where she had said anything that actually kind of met the dictionary definition of bigoted. But this comment kind of gets very close to the dictionary definition of bigoted, so it gives Trump a talking point that he will go back to again and again.”

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