Hillary Clinton's 'Basket of Deplorables' is considered one of the greatest political gaffes in recent memory.  It's right up there with Howard Dean's scream, Christine O'Donnell proclaiming 'I am not a witch,' and Gerald Ford claiming there was no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe.

Notice that she didn't say half of Donald Trump's supporters are merely intolerant.  No, they are deplorable!  Irredeemable!  Wow! 

 

She essentially asserted that 50% of Trump voters are barely worthy of breathing the same air as the swells.

 

But no sooner were the words out of her mouth than many liberal publications were running columns defending Secretary Clinton's comments.  She wasn't politically correct, they conceded, but she sure was right!  The New York Daily News won top prize in this odious category, writing that the number of Trump supporters who are bigots is actually 'closer to 100%'

 

Former Obama aide Stephanie Cutter, so far left that she was fired by MSNBC, endorsed Secretary Clinton's statement.  And Mary Anne Marsh, a Democratic strategist and Factor regular, contended that Hillary Clinton was very wise to demean and disparage Trump's supporters.

 

We like and respect Mary Anne, who is always ready to defend her positions.  But in this case, she unfortunately echoes the way many coastal elites view Middle Americans.  To them, Trump supporters are a bunch of uneducated, bigoted, backward yahoos. 

 

It's as if they inhabit separate lands, and in many ways they do.

 

Let's put it another way:  This election is Bloomingdales vs. Walmart, classical vs. country, The New Yorker vs. Reader's Digest, NPR vs. WWE.  There are two Americas, as John Edwards said, but they are not always differentiated by income.  The cultural elite include some not-so-highly paid left-wingers (Professor Melissa Click, who called for 'some muscle' to oust a photographer, comes to mind.)

 

What becomes painfully evident at election time is how one group of Americans looks down its noses at the other.  Many leftists genuinely feel our nation is an unjust place and has been a blight on civilization.  And these same folks believe that many of their less enlightened countrymen and countrywomen are indeed deplorable.

 

Should we really be surprised? 

 

Progressives run our universities and public school systems, and they have spent decades preaching about America's faults. 

 

Here's what Charles Krauthammer observed Monday on The Factor:  'The current history textbooks are basically catalogues of the pathologies of American history.  They're all about racism, sexism, xenophobia, all of the sins of the fathers.  That's what the younger generation is being taught.'

 

If Charles' litany sounds familiar, it's because those same words were used by Hillary Clinton in her 'basket of deplorables' speech, which was given to wealthy East Coast ultra-elites, the very snootiest and snobbiest America has to offer.  Trump's 'basket,' she declared, is filled with folks who are 'racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, you name it.' 

 

So, listen up, you deplorables out there.  If you believe refugees from terror nations be vetted strenuously, you are Islamophobic.  If you endorse traditional marriage, you are most certainly homophobic.  If you don't think cops are hunting down and killing young black men, there is no doubt that you are irredeemably racist.  Don't want open borders?  Xenophobic is the only word for you!

 

It sounds insane, but that is precisely how the editorial board of the New York Times views anyone who would even consider voting for Donald Trump.  Same with the managing editors and muckety-mucks at CNN, MSNBC, and the broadcast networks.  They don't merely think Trump voters are wrong or misguided, they deem them to be downright evil.

 

Now, it is certainly true that some Donald Trump voters are racists and immigrant-bashers.  But half?  Not even close. 

 

And don't forget that the despicable David Brock will vote for Hillary Clinton, as will the charlatan Al Sharpton.  And Harry Reid, who is now childishly calling Trump a fatso, is squarely in Hillary's corner. 

 

Are these folks not deplorable?

 

Hillary Clinton made a tremendous gaffe the other day with her 'deplorables' comment.  But there is no doubt that many of her supporters believe it wholeheartedly. 

 

Anyone who harbors such ill will against tens of millions of their fellow Americans is wrong and misguided. 

 

You could even call them deplorable!