Donald Trump said during Sunday’s debate that Hillary Clinton has “tremendous hate in her heart,” responding to a question about how both candidates would ensure they are a president for “all the people in the United States.”
Clinton criticized Trump for the “hateful and divisive campaign that he has run,” and Trump fired back.
“We have a divided nation, we have a very divided nation. You look at Charlotte, you look at Baltimore,” Trump said. “We have a divided nation because of people like her, and believe me, she has tremendous hate in her heart. And when she said ‘deplorables,’ she meant it.”
In a recent speech, Clinton said half of Trump’s supporters belong in a “basket of deplorables” characterized by “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic” views. The remark was swiftly condemned by Republicans, who criticized Clinton for insulting millions of Trump supporters. Clinton later said she regretted saying “half” of Trump’s supporters fit that description, but said she would continue to call out racist rhetoric in the campaign. She has also aimed to draw attention to the support Trump has received from white supremacists in the so-called “alt-right” movement.
“She’s got tremendous hate, and this country cannot take another four years of Barack Obama,” Trump said during the debate. “That’s what you’re getting with her.”
Clinton said Sunday that her argument is with Trump, not his supporters.
“What he has said about African Americans and Latinos, about Muslims and prisoners of war, about immigrants, about people with disabilities—he’s never apologized for,” she said.