Democratic strategist Robert Patillo doubled down Saturday on what some have called former Vice President Joe Biden’s “basket of deplorables” moment.
Patillo joined the hosts of “Fox & Friends” to discuss the fact that Biden, as of June 6, had surpassed the required number of delegates to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination. He also weighed in on Biden’s claim — from a Thursday evening town hall with actor Don Cheadle — that some 10-15% of Americans were “not very good people.” (RELATED: Joe Biden: 10-15% Of Americans Are ‘Not Very Good People’)
WATCH:
“I want to ask you about this comment by Joe Biden. Because many are saying that he had his basket of deplorables moment. You remember that moment from Hillary Clinton in the last election,” host Jedediah Bila began. “The former VP Is claiming 10 to 15% of Americans are just not very good people. Take a listen. We will get your reaction.”
Just like Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden can’t stop himself from dividing up Americans.
But this time, instead of “baskets” of deplorables it’s “percentages” of deplorables.
President Trump fights for ALL Americans! pic.twitter.com/FxW9AJ7eI2
— Brad Parscale (@parscale) June 5, 2020
“Probably anywhere from 10 to 15% of the people out there who are just not very good people,” Biden said, adding, “The vast majority of people are decent. We have to appeal to that and we have to unite people. Bring them together.”
Bila turned to Patillo for his response, and he doubled down on Biden’s assessment.
“Look, the Southern Poverty Law Center has identified over 1,000 active hate groups in the United States of America. The Anti-Defamation League has articulated a very similar number,” Patillo replied. “If you look at Q-Anon and 4-chan and many of these other white supremacist websites what you see is those numbers are born out to be true. Joe Biden is saying 90% of us who are not part of this groups. 90% not part of these far left anarchist groups need to work together to root these people out, so that’s absolutely correct.”
“I think 10% to 15% is a big number and I don’t know if marginalizing the population in that way is going to help him,” Bila pushed back. “We will see how it goes. Thank you for being here today.”
“Fox & Friends” hosts Griff Jenkins and Steve Doocy had challenged Biden’s comments Friday as well. Jenkins suggested that it was ironic to call for unity while marginalizing 10-15% of the country; Doocy pointed out the fact that, in a nation of nearly 330 million people, 15% of the population was nearly 50 million people.