RUTHFULLY YOURS

Leave it to Hillary Clinton to hammer almost 50 million citizens whom she aspires to govern.

“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 declared Friday as Barbra Streisand and other self-congratulating guests tittered their approval at a $6 million Manhattan fundraiser. “They’re racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic — you name it.”

Surging Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump has energized his recently sputtering campaign and now enjoys 43 percent support in today’s RealClearPolitics survey average (vs. 46 percent for Clinton). Thus, among Trump’s current share of America’s 220 million eligible voters, Clinton just threw half of them — roughly 47 million people — under her motorcade.

After triggering a torrent of criticism, Clinton stated, “I regret saying ‘half’ — that was wrong.”

Of course, this is no apology.

I very much regret that Eagles co-founder Glenn Frey died in January. However, I do not apologize for this, as I did not kill him. So, Clinton’s “regret” represents nothing more than her sorrow that she gave herself a throbbing political headache.

And if she got “half” wrong, then — what? — 47 percent of Trump’s supporters are hateful bums? Is it 45 percent? If Clinton has another number in mind, she should specify it.

Clinton’s remarks completely conform with the liberalism that she shares with top Democrats — from K Street to Sunset Boulevard.

As they see it, hordes of the great unwashed live in “flyover country.” They are not educated or elegant enough to have reached Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, New York, or — the most elevated place of all — Washington, D.C. So, enlightened people like Hillary and her supporters must make decisions for these benighted souls. Thus, Washington should tell these people what to do, every day, all day long. These unsophisticated monsters need adult supervision and, by God, Hillary and her minions will provide it!

In an address this afternoon in Baltimore, Trump denounced Clinton’s terminal elitism with particular passion, eloquence, and even a common touch. Most important, he astutely connected Clinton’s odious personal attitude to her public behavior.

Trump told the National Guard Association that he was “deeply shocked and alarmed this Friday to hear my opponent attack, slander, smear and demean [the] wonderful, amazing people who are supporting our campaign.”

Trump added:

Our support comes from every part of America, and every walk of life. We have the support of cops and soldiers, carpenters and welders, the young and the old, and millions of working-class families who just want a better future.

These were the people Hillary Clinton so viciously demonized. . . .

She called them a “basket of deplorables” in both a speech and an interview. She divides people into baskets as though they were objects, not human beings. . . .

She and her wealthy donors all had a good laugh. They were laughing at the very people who pave the roads she drives on, paint the buildings she speaks in, and keep the lights on in her auditorium.

Hillary Clinton is an insider, supported by powerful insiders, attacking Americans who have no political power.

Trump accused Clinton of “hatred and derision for the people who make this country run,” the citizens who “thanklessly follow the rules, pay their taxes, and scratch out a living for their families.”

Hillary, Trump says, “displayed the same sense of arrogance and entitlement that led her to violate federal law as secretary of state, hide and delete her e-mails, put classified information in the reach of our enemies, lie to Congress, and sell government favors and access through her foundation.”

Candidates usually are smart enough to slam other candidates. Instead, Hillary Clinton slimes actual voters, by the millions. It is a frightful revelation, indeed, to learn what Hillary Clinton really thinks of enough Americans to populate Florida, Nevada, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

— Deroy Murdock is a Manhattan-based Fox News contributor and a contributing editor with National Review Online.