Hillary Clinton is a politician, which means she has to be careful about what she says. I’m not a politician, so I don’t care. With that in mind, I’d like to address her “basket of deplorables” comment.
I don’t know what percentage of Trump’s supporters are actually racist, but here’s what I’m certain about: all of his supporters find racism and bigotry acceptable.
First, let’s talk about what reasons, other than racism and bigotry, might lead someone to support Trump.
Economic disenfranchisement and the belief that Trump can magically renegotiate trade deals and bring back manufacturing jobs. This is naive, but it’s not racist.
Trump is rich, so he “can’t be bought.” I don’t think Trump is rich, I think he’s on the verge of a sixth bankruptcy, and this whole deplorable campaign is nothing more than a publicity stunt for free exposure. Still, one could be drawn to him for this reason and not be racist.
Vladimir Putin is your homeboy. This makes you a sheep, but not a racist.
You think walls are aesthetically pleasing. Weird, and tainted by bigotry, but maybe you just like walls.
Since Trump hasn’t talked about any policy goals or shared any meaningful ideas beyond these, there are no other reasons you can support Trump that are detached from racism.
But suppose you fall into one of the categories above, you’re not a racist, right? No, you’re not, you’re simply on board with racism. Here’s why.
From the outset, the Trump circus has been a campaign steeped in bigotry, and it’s been all downhill from there. Even if you think Trump has the right ideas on trade, even if you think he can’t be bought, you still have to look in the mirror each morning and ask yourself why you’re supporting a man who, among other things, believes:
Most Mexican immigrants are criminals and rapists
We should ban Muslims, and that they celebrated in NJ the evening of 9/11/01
That we should be killing the families of terrorists
Women are nothing but objects
It’s okay to retweet images from anti-semitic groups
That if Klan leaders endorse him it’s not his problem, and he can’t be held accountable
That disabilities can be mocked
That a judge from Indiana can’t be objective because he is of Mexican descent
Oh, and that war veterans, yes white war veterans, are not heroes if they were captured
On top of being insanely stupid, these beliefs are bigoted, racist, misogynistic, and xenophobic in every sense of the word. They are, in fact, deplorable.
I can’t tell you how many of Trump’s supporters actually believe these things themselves, but I know for certain that if you support Trump you’ve made peace with these beliefs. That doesn’t make you a racist, it makes you a supporter of racism. If that supporting a deplorable basket case bothers you, think long and hard about how and why you are the kind of person who can support a man who says what Trump says.