The Basket of Deplorables

“You know, to just be grossly generalistic — you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the ‘basket of deplorables’. The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, islamophobic, you name it. And unfortunately, there are people like that, and he has lifted them up.” — Hillary Clinton

Ironically, the same group of people proudly rejecting the notion of political correctness is throwing a fit over being called deplorable. What is so wrong about labeling a group of people as deplorable? Donald Trump has made objectively racist, xenophobic, sexist comments and is openly supported by racist organizations. He has made his fortunes by building casinos and sham businesses that prey off of the less fortunate, and making “smart” business maneuvers to avoid paying taxes. If one cannot use the actions and world-view of a person as a measure of their character, then what is there left to use? To say that a subset of Trump’s constituency is deplorable, is to repeat an established fact based on the past year of drivel and dogma fueling the Republican party.

To support Donald Trump is to be ostensibly committed to at least some of the deplorable values he espouses, and to not care sufficiently about the effects of his positions that you disagree with. His stances on dealing with the families of terrorists, punishments for abortion, mass deportation, and the silencing of particular journalists are all things that one must either support or overlook in order to support a Trump candidacy. The allusions made to an impending dictatorship have stopped being amusing, and are something we all need to confront soberly.

Unfortunately, Trump’s ever-increasing foibles do virtually nothing to shake the faith his followers have in him. His tax evasion and economic failures are seen as business savvy; his unsavory comments towards illegal immigrants are viewed as transparency and honesty; his inability to speak eloquently or articulately is portrayed as “speaking to the people”; his reluctance to admit any wrongdoing whatsoever is chalked up to being a good negotiator. His most recent

Given how important the position of the U.S President is, to make excuses for such a man can only be described as deplorable, and astonishingly irresponsible.