Richard Campbell is Deplorable

Actually, "deplorable" isn't really a strong enough word.  I think "felon" is more appropriate.  As everyone knows, it's wrong to punch someone in the face, save for self-defense.  It's especially wrong to punch a 69-year-old woman who needs an oxygen tank to breathe:

69 year old Shirley Teeter, who wears an oxygen mask and lugs around a tank to support it, was protesting outside a Trump rally in North Carolina when a feral Trump turned on her and punched her right in the face. Cold-cocked her, as Shirley put it.

Deplorable Trump Supporter in Kansas

Okay, this article is from March, but it still proves Hillary's point that a big chunk of Trump's supporters are "deplorable" (assholes):

A Muslim student at Wichita State University says he and a Hispanic friend, who also is a student, were attacked over the weekend by a man who shouted racial epithets and “Trump, Trump, Trump” before riding away on his motorcycle.

Search the internet for others! You'll be shocked and disgusted by what you find!

The Final Word on Hillary's Emails

As you may have heard by now, Hillary Clinton used a private email server to do her job when she was America's Secretary of State from 2009-2013.  A lot of people are upset about this, insisting that she broke the law somehow, saying things like "What's she trying to hide?  I can't believe she's still a free woman!  If anyone else had done this, they'd be in jail!!!"

Ladies and gentlemen, meet another former Secretary of State: Colin Powell:

That's a picture of Mr. Powell on Februrary 5, 2003, lying to the United Nations about the threat Iraq posed to the world.  That little vial in his hand is supposed to represent the anthrax virus, a biological weapon which the Iraqis didn't have.  It turns out, of course, that Iraq didn't have any so-called 'weapons of mass destruction', but Powell and the Bush administration lied to the American people and the world to justify invading Iraq just a few days later.

This has nothing to do with Hillary's email server, or Benghazi!, or any of the other nefarious things Hillary has been accused of.  I mention it only to point out that there are worse things a person can do as Secretary of State than to break the rules about how email is handled.

However, as it turns out, Mr. Powell actually IS relevant to a discussion of Hillary's email server, because you see he also used a private email address to conduct government business while he served as Secretary of State.

In fact, what Powell did was one step worse than what Clinton did.  Clinton turned over her server and everything on it when the State Department and FBI requested it.  Yes, she had deleted SOME emails, because that's how email works.  You read it, and when you don't need it any more, you delete it.  But the point is, when the State Department asked for her emails, she turned over everything she had.

When the State Department asked Powell to turn over his emails, he blew them off.  From a May report by the State Department Office of Inspector General:

At a minimum, Secretary Powell should have surrendered all emails sent from or received in his personal account that related to Department business. Because he did not do so at the time that he departed government service or at any time thereafter, Secretary Powell did not comply with Department policies that were implemented in accordance with the Federal Records Act. In an attempt to address this deficiency, NARA requested that the Department inquire with Secretary Powell’s "internet service or email provider" to determine whether it is still possible to retrieve the email records that might remain on its servers. The Under Secretary for Management subsequently informed NARA that the Department sent a letter to Secretary Powell’s representative conveying this request. As of May 2016, the Department had not received a response from Secretary Powell or his representative. 

Strangely, I have read no recent accounts of anyone demanding that Colin Powell be locked up --- or worse yet, executed --- because he lied us into the Iraq War.  And not because he used a personal email account to conduct government business, either.

So let's treat Hillary the same way we treat Colin Powell.  Don't lock her up, and don't say mean things about her.  Instead, think of her as a beloved elder statesman.  For some reason, that's how many people look at Powell.

Trump Jr and Roger Stone Agree: Yes, We're Deplorable!

Wow.  When Hillary called a big chunk of Trump supporters "a basket of deplorables", I thought it would be a major issue for the rest of the campaign.  Hell, the Trump campaign is already running an ad attacking Clinton for saying it.

But apparently Donald Jr and Trump's long-time confidante Roger Stone didn't get the memo, because they got on social media and sent out an image basically confirming that Clinton is right:

From left to right, that's Roger Stone; former Republican candidate for president and all-around know-nothing neurosurgeon Ben Carson; loudmouth, bully, corrupt New Jersey governor and Trump eunuch Chris Christie; Eric Trump; vice-presidential nominee Mike Pence; Trump; Pepe the Frog; former New York Mayor, 9/11 opportunist and conspiracy theorist Rudy Giuliani; Donald Trump, Jr.; right-wing nutjob and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones; and different right-wing nutjob Milo Yiannopoulos.  At a minimum, Stone, Giuliani, Jones and Yiannopoulos fit Clinton's definition of "deplorable".  And that's not even taking into account Pepe the Frog.

Pepe has been around for more than a decade, but in the last year he has become the unofficial mascot of the white supremacist movement.  Trump Jr. and Stone know this (or damn well should).  Pepe represents the worst America has to offer in bigotry, the neo-Nazi movement, and straight-up racism.  In other words, he represents EXACTLY the kind of people Clinton meant when she talked about "deplorable" Trump supporters.

Understand, this image didn't come from some crazed Clinton supporter trying to do a hatchet job on Trump.  And it didn't come from the Trump campaign, either.  Its origin is unclear.  But what's so damning about it is that Trump Jr. and Roger Stone both EMBRACED it.  Trump Jr said he was "honored" to be in this group, and Stone said he was "proud".  Which proves that Clinton got it exactly right.

Emirjeta Xhelili is Deplorable

Trump and Republicans generally are pretending to be shocked and insulted that Hillary has pointed out that a large chunk of Trump's supporters as "deplorables" (a nice word for "assholes").  Their faux outrage would be more credible if it weren't for people like Emirjeta Xhelili:

Emirjeta Xhelili, 32, hurled Islamophobic insults as she pounced on the two victims near her Bath Beach home about 1:30 p.m. Thursday, authorities said.

“Get the f--k out of here,” Xhelili, 32, allegedly yelled at the pair, according to prosecutors. “Get the f--k out of America, b-----s.”

As she punched the 23-year-old women in the face and kicked them in their legs, she tried to rip the traditional Muslim veils off their heads at Bay 20th St. and Cropsey Aves., police sources said.

She also tried to knock over a stroller carrying a 15-month old.

Anyway.  There's ONE deplorable who loves Trump.

A Presidential Look

A few days ago, Donald Trump said he doesn't think Hillary has a presidential look.  Seriously.

THIS GUY thinks he's in a position to tell someone else they don't look presidential.  Okay then.

Basket of Deplorables

On Friday, Hillary Clinton told the truth (as she almost always does):

"You know, just to be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables.  Right?" she said to applause and laughter.  "The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic --- you name it.  And unfortunately there are people like that.  And he has lifted them up."

On Saturday, she clarified her comments, indicating that it's not really important whether the proportion of Trump's supporters who are "deplorable" is exactly half:

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. It's deplorable that Trump 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. It's deplorable that he's attacked a federal judge for his "Mexican heritage," bullied a Gold Star family because of their Muslim faith, and promoted the lie that our first black President is not a true American. So I won't stop calling out bigotry and racist rhetoric in this campaign.

For the record, on both occasions she classified the remaining Trump supporters as hard-working Americans who just don't feel like the economy or our political system are working for them, and people with whom we must empathize.  But for now, I'm focusing on the controversial part of her statement; that a large chunk of Trump's supporters are basically assholes.

There is data to back up this claim:

Now, everyone knows that your race doesn't determine your intelligence, work ethic, manners, or your tendency toward violence or lawlessness.  And it's disappointing to see that even some Clinton supporters admit to harboring racist beliefs.  But Trump's supporters are far and away the worst in this regard.

That's deplorable.