Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. (Getty)
In leaked audio from a fundraiser, Hillary Clinton criticized Bernie Sanders’ supporters and millennials, saying at one point that they are “children of the Great Recession” who are “living in their parents’ basement,” according to Politico.
The hashtag #basementdwellers is now trending on Twitter.
Meanwhile, Sanders is ramping up his campaigning for Clinton, USA Today said. “I am going to work as hard as I can to make sure that Donald Trump does not become the next president,” Sanders said, according to USA Today. And, after the audio leaked, he said that Clinton’s comments were “absolutely correct,” saying, “What she was saying there is absolutely correct. And that is, you’ve got millions of young people, many of whom took out loans in order to go to college, hoping to go out and get decent-paying, good jobs. And you know what? They’re unable to do that.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/clinton-camp-defends-leaked-remarks-on-sanders-voters-229016#ixzz4LwUQATNp
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As Fox News put it, “Hillary Clinton is back on the campaign trail locking arms with former Democratic rival Bernie Sanders to tout debt-free college education. But Clinton has privately distanced herself from such promises and other progressive ideals championed by Sanders.”
The audio is lengthy and covers many other subjects. The parents’ basement comments come at about 24 minutes in. According to Politico, it was first released by the Washington Free Beacon site. You can listen to it here:
Politico says the audio features Clinton speaking to donors last February “at a Virginia fundraiser hosted by former U.S. ambassador Beatrice Welters.”
In one part of the audio, Clinton says of Bernie supporters: “Some are new to politics completely. They’re children of the Great Recession. And they are living in their parents’ basement. They feel they got their education and the jobs that are available to them are not at all what they envisioned for themselves. And they don’t see much of a future. If you’re feeling like you’re consigned to, you know, being a barista, or you know, some other job that doesn’t pay a lot, and doesn’t have some other ladder of opportunity attached to it, then the idea that maybe, just maybe, you could be part of a political revolution is pretty appealing.”
She also said she did not want to be a “wet blanket on idealism.”
Clinton and Sanders. (Getty)
In the audio, she was skeptical of the idea of “free college, free healthcare.” She said half the people “don’t know what it means” when they talk about wanting to be like Scandinavia. She said she didn’t have “much company” in the middle, and she praised President Barack Obama and criticized Republican economic policies. She also criticized what she called Republicans’ “populist, nationalist, xenophobic, discriminatory kind of approach.”
The Free Beacon focused on another part of the audio in which Clinton “privately told supporters this year that she would likely scrap a major upgrade to the United States’ nuclear weapons program.”
The site says the leaked audio was “revealed by hackers who breached the email account of a campaign staffer.”
The audio also captures Clinton repeatedly coughing.
The hashtag #basementdwellers was trending on Twitter:
I’m not living in my parent’s basement. I own my house. Thanks @HillaryClinton for making my decision easier #BasementDwellers #NeverHillary
Dear #BasementDwellers,
I don’t need your vote, but it’ll be your fault if the #Deplorables win.
Always insincerely,
@HillaryClinton
I sacrificed 6 months on my moms living room floor to buy my first home. Does that make me a living room dweller? #BasementDwellers
When I became a Bernie supporter I turned from a successful sales executive to a lazy, slacker, moocher, entitled, hipster #BasementDwellers