When I was about six, I erred in calling my step-grandfather “a barrel.” My mother sat me down and explained to me that I had hurt the old fellow’s feelings. I wasn’t sure how to react to this mild punishment. My step-grandfather had a lot of chocolate candy, but he hid it under this bed when I came over.
What reminded me of this early incident was Hillary Clinton’s reference to half of Don Trump’s supporters as a “basket of deplorables.” Granted, she was talking about a mob of racist, homophobic know-nothings, but Hillary should not have brought up a basket, which she employed metaphorically, caring not who she cut to the quick. And then she deplored the contents of the fictional basket! This cruelty crossed a line seldom approached in the history of American rhetoric. She indirectly called David Duke of the KKK and others like him “deplorable.” What unforgivable thing will she say next?
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