Hillary Clinton's reference to Donald Trump supporters as "deplorables" flies directly in the face of her promise to bring Americans of all political persuasions together, former Rep. Pete Hoekstra tells Newsmax TV.
"On Friday night she really revealed how she does feel about the rest of America," Hoekstra said Monday to J.D. Hayworth on "America Talks Live."
"[She's] basically saying there is nothing of value, and she's saying that for a quarter of the American people."
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Speaking at a New York City fundraiser, Clinton said: "You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic — you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that.
"And he has lifted them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people — now 11 million. He tweets and retweets their offensive, hateful, mean-spirited rhetoric. Now some of those folks — they are irredeemable, but thankfully they are not America."
Hoekstra, former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and author of "Architects of Disaster: The Destruction of Libya" published by The Calamo Press," said just as disturbing was the reaction the Democratic presidential nominee received from her supporters.
"They laughed and they applauded, they agreed with her. It wasn't shock or disappointment that she would say something like that about a quarter of America," Hoekstra said.
"I saw her earlier press conference … where she was saying, I'm going to be the person that brings Republicans and Democrats and America together. No, the elitist in America for which Hillary Clinton stands and she's their candidate, this is how they feel about people who don't' agree with them."
Hoekstra said he believes Clinton is also beginning to feel the pressure of declining poll numbers as Trump, the billionaire real-estate tycoon and Republican presidential nominee, gains more support.
"Donald Trump is closing in on the polls, a number of the battleground states, the purple states. They're now within the margin of error, there are dead heats, and Donald Trump has closed a significant gap that existed at the beginning of August," he said.
"It has been wiped away. He has the momentum and she doesn't know how to respond."
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