Fox News host Bill Hemmer may be a biased jerk but he has never struck me as so stupid that he would not be able to understand Bill Clinton’s obvious meaning when he said, in Florida, that he understood Donald Trump's base because “I’m basically your standard redneck.”
Being deliberately obtuse in order to promote Fox’s anti-Clinton agenda is another thing. And that’s what I’m putting my money on as an explanation for Hemmer’s laughable poutrage over Clinton’s comments.
Florida’s NBC26.com has Clinton’s complete comments in context. But you don’t need to read the whole thing to realize that Clinton was talking about reaching out to and understanding Trump supporters:
[Hillary] asked me to come down here and say ‘you go on and vote for whoever you want to.’ But if she wins this race, she’s coming back for you, because she want you to go into the future with the rest of us.
People need to feel valued. And that’s what I want to ask you...all of you. Don’t engage in our version of all this screaming. Go out there and look people in the eye who aren’t going to vote for her and tell them we still want them to be a part of America. Tell them we need them.
You know...look man. The other guy’s base is what I grew up in. You know, I’m basically your standard redneck.
[…]
But I know how they feel. And I’m telling you, the older you get the worse it is, if you look in the mirror every day and you think you can’t do anything to change the future. And a lot of you have felt, we’ve all had days like that, haven’t we? Days we can live with; months we can live with; years, a decade, that’s a tough sell.”
But Hemmer set the tone of a discussion on America’s Newsroom today by opening with a dismissive, “A bunch of rednecks, that’s all you are, Trump supporters. A bunch of rednecks.”
Republican Brad Blakeman complained that Clinton, a white man talking about understanding other white men, was being racist. “I think it’s worse than being called a ‘deplorable’” Blakeman said, referring to a famous comment by Hillary Clinton. “Redneck has a racist tone. Bill Clinton knows that. He admits that he grew up in that era of racism where he knows exactly what redneck means, especially beyond southern borders.”
Blakeman went on to claim that Clinton “owes the American people an apology.”
Hemmer asked his other guest, Nomiki Konst (one of our favorites), “Does he owe America an apology, Nomiki?”
“No!” Konst said. She appropriately pointed out that Clinton was “trying to illustrate” his understanding of “the mentality, of why a base of supporters in the deep south supported Donald Trump.”
But when Blakeman complained, “This is a racist remark,” “objective” Hemmer exclaimed, “It sure is!”
I don’t watch all of America’s Newsroom every day but I’m willing to bet more money that Hemmer has never expressed such outrage about any of the many, many, actually racist remarks that Trump has made.
“He was being derogatory,” Blakeman insisted..
“You know what’s derogatory? Saying you’re going to ban Muslims, saying sexist things about women,” Konst shot back.
As if to prove me right, Hemmer interrupted to stop the reminder of Trump's bigotry. He said condescendingly, “We have debated that over and over again. Address Brad’s point, Nomiki.”
“He was joking,” Konst said about Clinton. “He grew up in the deep south. He is Bubba. His nickname is Bubba. Let’s be real. If there’s anybody in the race who understands the deep south, it’s Bill Clinton. It is not Donald Trump. You’d be surprised if Donald Trump even visited the deep south before he was campaigning.”
Blakeman would not let go of his victimhood. He said angrily, “I’m a Trump supporter and I’m not a redneck!”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Konst said sarcastically. She sounded exasperated with this ridiculous discussion. “Are you hurt? Are you offended as a white man who comes from privilege? …You know, you guys have been struggling so hard your entire life, all of history. Let’s get real.”
“I work for everything I’ve got!” Blakeman said, missing the point.
And so did Hemmer. “Is that where this is going, Nomiki? Wow!” he said. Hemmer also demanded that she “defend” the “white privilege bomb.”
“Since when has anything in society been racist against white men?” Konst asked. “Name some instances.”
And guess what? Neither Blakeman nor Hemmer could.
Yet Fox News would have you believe that prejudice against white people is the only significant racial prejudice in the U.S. today.
Watch proof that even when Democrats extend a hand to Republicans, Fox News and its allies slap it away. From the October 12, 2016 America’s Newsroom. You can also watch Clinton’s October 11 comments underneath.
FoxNoise’s privileged white boys may have inadvertently turned the “redneck” vote away from Trump.
I strongly doubt either one of these clowns would willingly be caught dead within 100 feet of a bunch of real rednecks.