Trump followers are like cult members, says Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton has called for a “formal deprogramming” of Donald Trump’s supporters, comparing followers of the former president to “cult members”.

The former First Lady, who lost to Donald Trump in the 2016 election, launched the withering attack on the Republican front-runner’s backers during an interview on CNN aired on Friday.

“Sadly, so many of those extremists, those MAGA (Make America Great Again) extremists, take their marching orders from Donald Trump, who has no credibility left by any measure,” she said.

“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? You know, because at some point, you know, maybe there needs to be a formal deprogramming of the cult members.”

Critics were quick to suggest her remarks could serve to whip up hard-core Trump supporters and followers of an array of conspiracy theories who believe a hidden secretive elite and “deep state” is running Washington.

‘Throwing fuel on the fire’

Some accused Ms Clinton of rekindling the furore which followed her 2016 description of Mr Trump’s supporters as a “basket of deplorables”.

That outburst was viewed in some quarters as a major own goal that contributed heavily to Ms Clinton’s election loss by insulting blue-collar voters in swing industrial states who, feeling they had been let down by the “elite” in Washington, in turn backed Mr Trump.

Analysts said her latest comments would not help incumbent president Joe Biden as he gears up to challenge for a second term in the White House in next year’s election.

“If I was in the White House, I would prefer not to have former nominees dropping these sorts of bombs,” said Christopher Galdieri, a professor of politics at Saint Anselm College.

“I think she is enjoying the fact she is a private citizen and doesn’t have to worry about the repercussions.

“We should expect to hear him talk about this. I don’t know whether his base can get even more riled up. It’s throwing fuel on the fire, and the fire is doing pretty well already.”

Mr Trump’s supporters wasted little time capitalising on the gaffe.

“President Trump has said countless times that they are only coming after him because he stands in their way from coming after you — and Hillary Clinton just confirmed that to be true,” said Karoline Leavitt, spokesman for the Trump-supporting Make America Great Again political action committee.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a leading rival of Mr Trump’s for the Republican nomination, joined the chorus of condemnation of Ms Clinton’s remarks.

“These are patriotic Americans. They want to see the country do well,” he said of Mr Trump’s supporters.

“Some people would be with Trump no matter what, but I think the bulk of the people … appreciate what he did, but they also understand that he has got limitations in terms of his electability.”

‘Poisoning the blood of our country’

Meanwhile, the former president also found himself at the centre of renewed controversy after he accused undocumented immigrants of “poisoning the blood of our country” in a recent interview.

“Nobody has any idea where these people are coming from, and we know they come from prisons,” he said in a 37-minute interview with Raheem Kassam, the editor-in-chief of The National Pulse and a former director of Breitbart News in London.

“We know they come from mental institutions, insane asylums. We know they’re terrorists,”

His remarks echoed far-Right and white supremacist rhetoric about the threat posed to America by immigrants.

The controversy came as Mr Trump also ruled himself out of becoming Speaker of the House of Representatives, instead throwing his support behind Ohio congressman, Jim Jordan, one of his staunchest allies on Capitol Hill.

There had been growing calls for Mr Trump to take the post, for which he would be eligible despite not being a member of the House.

The former president, who is reportedly planning his first visit to the US Capitol since the January 6 insurrection after a tumultuous row in the GOP, gave his full-throated backing to Mr Jordan on his Truth Social channel.

“He will be a GREAT Speaker of the House, and has my complete and total endorsement.”

With the Speaker needing the backing of 218 members of the House – almost the entire Republican caucus – Mr Jordan’s election is not guaranteed, given the bitter rift between the party’s centrist and ultraconservative wings.

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