Hillary Clinton says she regrets calling ‘half’ of Donald Trump’s supporters ‘deplorable’

But Jamal Simmons, a Democratic consultant, said the remarks probably would not wrest voters from Clinton.

Hillary Clinton has said she regrets calling half of Donald Trump’s supporters a “basket of deplorables”.

In an interview with Israeli TV this week, Clinton said that Trump supporters are, “what I call the deplorables; you know, the racists and the, you know, the haters, and the people who are drawn because they think somehow he’s going to restore an America that no longer exists”.

“The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic – you name it”. At the NY restaurant, Clinton bemoaned the people she described as “deplorables”, saying “unfortunately there are people like that”.

“And he has lifted them up”, Clinton continued.

She went on to say that “many of Trump’s supporters are hard-working Americans who just don’t feel like the economy or our political system are working for them”.

But Clinton’s remarks got top billing on Twitter where the hashtag #BasketOfDeplorables was trending, with shows of condemnation and support for Clinton.

There was even a mock account called “Hillary’s Basket”, with the handle @TheDeplorables, deriding the former first lady and United States senator.

The rhetorical scuffle comes as the candidates head into the final two months of the campaign, with Trump trying to make up ground on Clinton before the November 8 election.

“Last night I was “grossly generalistic”, and that’s never a good idea”.

Hitting back through a series of tweets, Trump accused Clinton of “insulting, millions of incredible, harding working people, ” predicting it would cost her at the polls.

But she admitted yesterday that she regretted referring to “half” of Trump’s voters – but made no apologies for calling out “prejudice and paranoia” among Trump’s campaign.

Trump responded on Twitter on Saturday morning, saying that Clinton was “SO INSULTING to my supporters, millions of unbelievable, hard working people”.

He says she’s smeared many Americans and will pay a heavy political price.

Both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton arrived separately at Ground Zero in lower Manhattan this morning to pay their respects on the 15th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

“But let’s be clear, what’s really “deplorable” is that Donald Trump hired a major advocate for the so-called “alt-right” movement to run his campaign and that David Duke and other white supremacists see him as a champion of their values”, Clinton said, referring to Bannon. Tim Kaine (D-VA), said that Clinton did not need to apologize for her comments.

“Hillary Clinton’s low opinion of the people that support this campaign should be denounced in the strongest possible terms”, said Mike Pence, the governor of in and Trump’s running mate, speaking at the Values Voter Summit in Washington.

“They are Americans, and they deserve your respect”, he tweeted.

And Trump’s son Eric posted a photo of a packed sports arena. On Friday night, he told supporters in Pensacola, Florida, that Mrs Clinton could shoot someone and not be prosecuted. What a terrible statement.

Republicans and Trump supporters responded fiercely on social media to Clinton’s remarks at the LGBT fundraiser and the episode threatened to distract from her efforts to paint Trump as unqualified for the presidency. “And she wouldn’t be prosecuted”.

“Obviously not everyone supporting Trump is part of the alt right, but alt right leaders are with Trump”, Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill tweeted.

Clinton has not let the media into many private fundraisers, but press was allowed in to hear her remarks Friday.