Catherine Lucey, Associated Press,Associated Press 3 hours ago
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) -- Hillary Clinton said Saturday that she was wrong to put half of Donald Trump's supporters in a "basket of deplorables," but she didn't back down from describing his campaign as largely built on prejudice and paranoia. The Republican accused her of a "grotesque attack on American voters."
Less than 24 hours after she made the comments at a private New York City fundraiser, Clinton said in a statement, "last night I was 'grossly generalistic' and that's never a good idea. I regret saying 'half' — that was wrong." But she argued that the word "deplorable" was reasonable to describe much of Trump's campaign.
"He has built his campaign largely on prejudice and paranoia and given a national platform to hateful views and voices, including by retweeting fringe bigots with a few dozen followers and spreading their message to 11 million people," the Democratic nominee said.
Responding in a statement, Trump said it was "disgraceful that Hillary Clinton makes the worst mistake of the political season and instead of owning up to this grotesque attack on American voters, she tries to turn it around with a pathetic rehash of the words and insults used in her failing campaign?"
Trump added that Clinton was showing "bigotry and hatred for millions of Americans," arguing that she was "incapable to serve as President of the United States."
Clinton, who has said she is the candidate to unify a divided country, made the "deplorables" comment at an LGBT fundraiser Friday night at a New York City restaurant, with about 1,000 people in attendance. She has made similar comments recently, including on an Israeli television station.
"To just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic — you name it," she said, before stressing that other Trump supporters are frustrated and need sympathy.
Trump and his supporters quickly pounced on the remark, arguing that it revealed Clinton as disconnected from struggling Americans.
"Wow, Hillary Clinton was SO INSULTING to my supporters, millions of amazing, hard-working people. I think it will cost her at the polls!" Trump said in a tweet.
Running mate Mike Pence, in remarks at the Values Voter conference in Washington, shot back: "The truth of the matter is that the men and women who support Donald Trump's campaign are hard-working Americans, farmers, coal miners, teachers, veterans, members of our law enforcement community, members of every class of this country who know that we can make America great again."
Of course, while Clinton is taking heat for her comment, Trump's brand is controversy. At a rally in Pensacola, Florida, on Friday, he said Clinton is "so protected" that "she could walk into this arena right now and shoot somebody with 20,000 people watching, right smack in the middle of the heart. And she wouldn't be prosecuted."
Clinton's rhetorical stumble came as the candidates head into the final two months of the campaign, with Trump trying to make up ground before the Nov. 8 election.
Clinton has not let the media into many private fundraisers, but press was allowed in to hear her remarks Friday. At the New York restaurant, Clinton bemoaned the people she described as "deplorables," saying "unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people — now how 11 million. He tweets and retweets their offensive hateful mean-spirited rhetoric. Now, some of those folks — they are irredeemable, but thankfully they are not America," said Clinton, who was the country's top diplomat during President Barack Obama's first term.
Clinton then pivoted and tried to characterize the other half of Trump's supporters, putting them in "that other basket" and saying they need empathy.
She described them as "people who feel that the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures, and they're just desperate for change."
Seeking to explain the statements, Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill said in a series of tweets after the remarks that Clinton has been talking about the "alternative right," or "alt-right" movement, which often is associated with efforts on the far right to preserve "white identity," oppose multiculturalism and defend "Western values." Merrill argued that "alt-right" leaders are supporting Trump and "their supporters appear to make up half his crowd when you observe the tone of his events."
But the moment recalled comments about voters — also at private fundraisers — that have tripped up presidential nominees in the past.
Weeks before the 2012 election, Republican Mitt Romney landed in hot water for saying that 47 percent of the public would vote for President Barack Obama "no matter what" because they depended on government benefits and his job was "not to worry about those people."
During the 2008 Democratic primary, then-Sen. Obama said that small-town voters "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
On Saturday, Clinton's staff said she attended another fundraiser at the Armonk, New York, home of attorney David Boies. But reporters traveling with her campaign were not allowed in and did not see her.
Trump, meanwhile, did not address Clinton's comment at his only scheduled public appearance on Saturday, a funeral in St. Louis for social conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly.
Trump noted that Schlafly rooted for the underdog, and "the idea that so-called little people, or the little person that she loved so much, could beat the system — often times, the rigged system."
ABC News 12 hours ago
CANDACE SMITH and JOHN SANTUCCI,Good Morning America 17 hours ago
He added: “That’s what’s happening. That is what’s happened to our country. I never thought I’d see the day where this has happened to our country.”
The remarks this evening at a rally in Pensacola, Florida, followed his visit to the nation's capital earlier today to meet not with prominent politicians, but perhaps a group even more influential in this election: evangelical voters.
"A Trump administration, our Christian heritage will be cherished, protected, defended like you have never seen before. Believe me," he told the crowd assembled at the 2016 Values Voters Summit. "And that includes religious liberty."
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This is not Trump’s first appearance at the Summit. Last fall, almost a year ago, he was here, still in a highly contested battle against over a dozen other GOP hopefuls. Though he brought his Bible, raising it high above his head, his scathing attacks in front of the Christian crowd garnered a mixed reaction.
“You have this clown, Marco Rubio,” he scoffed, as boos erupted through the crowd. And in a quip that now seems prescient, Trump, touting his poll numbers, declared, “If I’m so high in all these categories, why do we even have to have an election, right? Why? Why?”
Trump, of course, would go on to trounce all his Republican rivals but, at the time, white evangelicals still remained wary. A Pew Research study showed that evangelicals were among those most skeptical of Trump throughout the primaries, with 49 percent of white evangelical Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters not having backed him as the party’s nominee during primary season.
But now Trump, along with his conservative-favored running mate, Governor Mike Pence, seem well-positioned to capture their vote. A CNN/ORC poll released earlier this week showed an overwhelming majority of white evangelicals prefer the Trump/Pence ticket, 73 percent of them favoring them over the Hillary Clinton/Tim Kaine ticket.
But Trump’s ascent in the hearts of self-proclaimed evangelical voters was not without peril. Missteps, such as referring to 2 Corinthians as “Two Corinthians” caused some to question the veracity of his bible-study. It’s traditionally referred to as “Second” Corinthians.
Even still, Trump has garnered other major endorsements within the evangelical community. Trump was endorsed by Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr., son of the late televangelist, and prominent Dallas pastor Robert Jeffress has appeared with Trump at several rallies.
Trump has taken to boosting his rhetoric -- he has declared "the evangelicals love me" -- with policy proposals. He has also promised to repeal the Johnson Amendment, a tax change enacted in 1954 that threatens religious institutions with the loss of their tax-exempt status if they endorse or oppose a political candidate.
"We're going to get rid of that law," he said today. "We're going to get rid of it so fast. That was my idea.
"I figure it's the only way I'm getting to heaven," Trump joked, eliciting a collective chuckle from the crowd.
Trump will not be campaigning this weekend. He is scheduled to attend the funeral of conservative icon Phyllis Schafly in St Louis Saturday.
Yahoo News Photo Staff Fri, Sep 9 8:56 AM PDT
National Geographic invites photographers from around the world to enter the 2016 Nature Photographer of the Year contest. The grand-prize winner will receive a 10-day trip for two to the Galápagos with National Geographic Expeditions and two 15-minute image portfolio reviews with National Geographic photo editors.
Eligible contestants can visit natgeo.com/photocontest to submit photographs in one or all of four categories: Landscape, Environmental Issues, Action and Animal Portraits. Each entry to the contest will be submitted through National Geographic's photo community, Your Shot, where members can comment on photos and share their favorites. The entry fee is $15 (USD) per photo, and there is no limit to the number of submissions per entrant. Entries must be in digital format and submitted electronically. The contest ends Saturday, Nov. 4, at 12 p.m. EDT (U.S.).
Here's a look at some of the submissions so far.
If you’ve ever flown on an airplane you know the anxiety of waiting for your bags at the luggage carousel. It’s happened to all of us and if you’re the last one standing there while everyone else has retrieved their luggage and yours is still missing, you know how frustrating it can be.
Anyone who’s ever had their luggage “mishandled” or lost by an airline knows exactly what were talking about. Lost luggage is often met with little concern by airline employees that don’t do anything to make you feel comfortable that your luggage will ever be found. If it hasn’t happened yet, rest assured that it will.
But today there is an innovative & inexpensive technology that is changing the way we travel and keep our luggage safe. And it doesn’t require an expensive GPS tracking unit or monthly monitoring service to work.
Now, you can track your luggage without breaking the bank and it’s easier than you ever thought it could be!
As you know, most GPS tracking units are expensive and require a monthly subscription monitoring service to be effective. But why would you pay for a monthly monitoring service to track your luggage if you don’t travel every month?
Wouldn’t it be easier if you could attach something small to your luggage that always works, you only pay for once, it only needs a tiny battery to work and you could track it on your phone?
Now you can because technology is solving many of life’s most annoying problems: Like airlines losing your luggage after a long flight!
One company has created a tiny device with a free advanced tracking app that works with iPhones and Android phones and it could be exactly what you’re looking for.
It’s called TrackR. It’s about the size of a quarter and it’s revolutionizing the way we keep track our important things.
Simple! You only need to install the tiny battery in the TrackR, download the free app on your iPhone or Android, link the device to the app and attach TrackR to whatever you want to keep tabs on. In less than 5 minutes you are ready to go!
Once it’s all set up, you can attach it to your luggage when you travel, your keys, a wallet, your purse, your laptop or iPad and anything else you can think of.
And yes, tracking your stuff really is that easy. There are no monthly subscriptions or annoying bills to pay. Traveling is already stressful enough – now you can let TrackR keep tabs on your valuable luggage while you relax on your flight.
You can even slip the TrackR inside a pocket of your suitcase so nobody even knows it’s there. It’s discreet and still tracking!
You can also hide a TrackR in your car when you travel and navigate the confusing airport parking lot with ease!
Airport parking lots can be very confusing and everybody has forgotten where they parked their car after a long trip. The last thing you want to do is look at a parking lot map to find your car.
Now you can quickly find your car using TrackR and the free tracking app on your smartphone. All you need to do is open the app on your phone, click the “find device” icon and it will tell you exactly where your TrackR was last seen and give you the coordinates of its last known location.
Check out the video below if you want to see it in action:
Unlike most of the GPS tracking units sold today, the TrackR only costs $29! That’s a small price to pay for peace of mind when you travel isn’t it?
You can buy it directly from the company’s website!
As we said before, the TrackR has unlimited possibilities. Do you have a pet that is always getting lost? Attach it to their collar and track them when they run out of the house. Do you find yourself misplacing your wallet, purse or keys too often? Then attach it to them and never worry about losing them again!
The TrackR also comes with two sided tape so you can stick it to flat surfaces like underneath bike seats or your expensive electronic devices (because bikes & electronics are easy targets for thieves!)
Attach it to anything that important, valuable or easy to lose and then relax…
Now that you’re aware of the potential of this genius invention, we’ll go over how easy it is to use & set up, just so you don’t have any doubts:
PRO TIP: TrackR is a great gift idea because THERE IS NO MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION and THEY DELIVER IT FOR FREE!
They have an amazing summertime sale going on right now and if you buy 4 TrackR’s they will send you 4 MORE TrackR’S FOR FREE! Did we mention they also ship it to you FOR FREE?
So pick up 4 TrackR’s and get 4 more FOR FREE so you and your family can keep track of all of your valuables: Luggage, cars, keys, pets, bikes, toys and even expensive electronics like you iPad, laptop or Kindle!