During his speech at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) on Monday night, President Joe Biden took a sharp tone, asserting that Trump supporters “can’t think, can’t read very well.”
This remark, reminiscent of Hillary Clinton’s controversial “basket of deplorables” comment from the 2016 campaign, came as Biden addressed the state of education in the United States.
“How can we be the greatest nation in the world without the best education system in the world?” Biden questioned. “Donald Trump and the Republican friends, they not only can’t think, they can’t read very well.”
The audience responded with laughter, prompting Biden to add, “Seriously, think about it. Look at their Project 2025. They want to do away with a part of education.”
Hillary Clinton faced significant backlash in 2016 after describing a portion of Trump’s supporters as a “basket of deplorables.”
“You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right?” Clinton stated. “The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic—you name it. And unfortunately, there are people like that. And he has lifted them up.”
At the time, the Trump campaign responded, “Just when Hillary Clinton said she was going to start running a positive campaign, she ripped off her mask and revealed her true contempt for everyday Americans.”
