Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton advocated for a “formal deprogramming” of many supporters of former President Donald Trump.
In a recent CNN interview, Clinton discussed the recent developments on Capitol Hill, highlighting the division within the GOP caucus, with one faction she described as “sane” for their role in preventing a government shutdown, and another as a “cult” dedicated to Trump.
“That’s the way it used to be,” Clinton said. “I mean, we had very strong partisans in both parties in the past, and we had very bitter battles over all kinds of things… but there wasn’t this little tail of extremism, waving, you know, wagging the dog of the Republican Party as it is today. And sadly, so many of those extremists, those MAGA extremists take their marching orders from Donald Trump, who has no credibility left by any measure. He’s only in it for himself. He’s now defending himself in civil actions and criminal actions. And when do they break with him?”
“Because at some point, you know, maybe there needs to be a formal deprogramming of the cult members, but something needs to happen,” she continued.
Clinton’s comment elicited an amused response from the interviewer, Christiane Amanpour.
When discussing the prospect of Trump being the 2024 nominee, Clinton expressed her belief that President Biden would defeat him and explained her perspective on Trump’s appeal.
Hillary Clinton floats ‘formal deprogramming’ of Trump supporters, suggests GOP base is made of bigots
🚨Crooked requires deprogramming…in prison. #LockHerUphttps://t.co/NK5wdhA8fA— Myrna 💋💄 (@GigaBeers) October 6, 2023
She characterized Trump as an authoritarian populist who effectively taps into the emotional and psychological needs of a segment of the population, particularly within the Republican Party.
She noted that for various emotional and psychological reasons, this base continues to support him, attend his rallies, and wear his merchandise because his style of politics resonates with them.
“Maybe they don’t like migrants, maybe they don’t like gay people, or Black people, or the woman who got the promotion at work they didn’t get, whatever the reason,” Clinton said.
“So it is like a cult, and somebody has to break that momentum. And that’s why I believe Joe Biden will defeat them and hopefully then that will be the end and the fever will break. And then Republicans can try to get back to fighting about issues among themselves and electing people who are least, you know, responsible and accountable,” she added.
“You can put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call a basket of deplorables,” Clinton continued. “They’re racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, you name it. And unfortunately, there are people like that and he has lifted them up.”
While Clinton has consistently called for the rejection of “election deniers” who refused to accept Biden’s victory in 2020, she also reiterated her view that Trump was an “illegitimate president” and propagated the narrative that the 2016 election was stolen from her due to factors such as Russian interference.
