BASKET OF DEPLORABLES

(Facebook will not let me cite this piece for reasons unknown)

Hillary Clinton recently said that half of Donald Trump's supporters are a basket of Deplorables.  This is a Donald Trump kind of statement.  It is of the sort that it is all right to think it and even talk about it in private, but not all right to say it out loud in public.*

Actually Hillary was wrong about half of Trump supporters being Deplorables, it is certainly closer to 100% of his base and even larger.  In January of 2016, a poll quoted by the Huffington Post concluded 53% of Republicans still believe Obama is not a U.S. citizen and ineligible to become president, although he was born to an American mother and Kenyan father in Hawaii.  At the same time, 70% of Republicans feel that Ted Cruz is eligible to become president although he was born in Calgary, Canada, to an American mother and a Cuban father.**

There is nothing that can be done about the Republicans ineligible belief.  Even if you show them Obama's birth certificate, they shrug it off as a forgery.

And what about the constant efforts by Republicans to disenfranchise African Americans from voting?

I have known a number of these people where you can't say anything so bad about Obama that they won't believe it.  At the same time, if you stay off of politics, they can be very nice and helpful people.  I've played bridge with some and socialized with them.  They are very nice as long as you stayed off of politics.

These people would try to convert me.  There were a group of retired military officers whose e-mails were so bad that I actually prayed on 9/11 that it wasn't some retired military pilots that crashed into the Twin Towers.  I always hoped these retired military officers were just letting off steam.

* I think it would be interesting to see a poll of Democrats on the issue of Deplorables.  It could well come out with results similar to what Republicans believe about Obama.
** Barry Goldwater was born in Arizona Territory 3 yrs before it became a state.  John McCain was born in Panama but on a U.S. military base to American parents.  Mitt Romney was born in Chihuahua, Mexico, to American parents from Utah Territory.  I don't recall any flap about these on where they were born, but I'm told that there was some discussion about eligibility for president.  Note that all these are Republicans and none became president.