Day: September 13, 2016

Clinton’s ‘Basket of Deplorbles’ Remark Was Brilliant

Buck Banks

“Could there be a clunkier phrase than ‘basket of deplorables’? Hillary Clinton’s assertion … struck a lot of observers as not just an odd turn of phrase but politically unwise. You attack your opponent, the idea was, but you don’t attack the voters. … But now, a few days later, the brilliance of Clinton’s remark is becoming clearer. Yes, she got a few liberal commentators to take her side and defend the substance of it. But the far bigger benefit is that in the wake of her comment, some media figures decided to devise a ‘deplorables’ quiz for Trump supporters. Is Person X deplorable? How about Person Y? The effect was to pressure Trump supporters not only to agree with Clinton’s larger point but with her precise terminology.

— Byron York

Kentucky Knuckle-Dragger Threatens Bloodshed If Clinton Wins

Buck Banks

Whose blood will be shed? It may be that of those in this room. It might be that of our children and grandchildren. I have nine children. It breaks my heart to think that it might be their blood that is needed to redeem something, to reclaim something, that we through our apathy and our indifference have given away.

— Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R), saying patriots might have to shed blood to “reclaim” America if Hillary Clinton is elected, reports Political Wire.

Your Might Be in the ‘Basket of Deplorables’ If …

Buck Banks

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.

— The Washington Post

Mexican Peso Tracking with Trump Political Fortunes

Buck Banks

US$0.05229

Current rate of exchange for the Mexican peso against the U.S. dollar. “If you want to know how Donald Trump is doing, all you need to do is check the Mexican peso,” Bloomberg reports. “Over the past four months, Mexico’s currency has repeatedly declined when Trump’s election outlook improves and rallied when his odds of winning slump. The peso tumbled to a 2 1/2-month low Monday after his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, canceled a two-day trip to California because she’s suffering from pneumonia.”

Trump Took Federal Money After the 9/11 Attacks

Buck Banks

$150,000

Amount Donald Trump took in federal money that he claims now was for charitable works, the New York Daily News reports. “Though the billionaire presidential candidate has repeatedly suggested he got that money for helping others out after the attacks, documents obtained by the Daily News show that Trump’s account was just a huge lie. … Records from the Empire State Development Corp., which administered the recovery program, show that Trump’s company asked for those funds for ‘rent loss,’ ‘cleanup’ and ‘repair’ — not to recuperate money lost in helping people.”

Trump Bragged as the Towers Smoldered

Buck Banks

40 Wall Street actually was the second-tallest building in downtown Manhattan, and it was actually, before the World Trade Center, was the tallest — and then, when they built the World Trade Center, it became known as the second-tallest. And now it’s the tallest.

— Donald Trump, giving an interview to WWOR on Sept. 11, 2001, saying his building was now the tallest in lower Manhattan, as the Twin Towers lay smoldering in ruins.