"Basket of Deplorables" is a term that Hillary Clinton used to describe Donald Trump's supporters.

Background

On September 9th, Clinton attended a LGBT Gala in New York where she spoke to the crowd. In her speech Clinton attempted to undermine Trump's popularity by saying "To just be grossly generalistic, you can put half of Trump supporters into what I call the 'basket of deplorables .' Right? Racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic, you name it. Some of those folks...irredeemable"

Aftermath and Reaction

Clinton has taken back her words saying that they were "grossly generalistic."

Trump took the opportunity to capitalize on Clinton's gaffe with a series of tweets, including a retweet of Barack Obama from four years ago criticizing Mitt Romney of "writing off half the country."

Strong backlash has surfaced, causing the hashtag #basketofdeporables to trend across social media.

Trump's senior communications adviser, Jason Miller, said that Clinton had "ripped off her mask and revealed her true contempt for everyday Americans." ^[1]

Trump's campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said that Hillary's comments "insults millions of Americans."

Clinton's campaign spokesman Nick Merrill tried to justify Clinton's words by saying they accurately describe half of the people at Trump's events.