On Sunday, Tim Kaine distanced himself from some of Hillary Clinton‘s comments during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week.” Asked whether it was inappropriate for the Democratic presidential nominee to use the word “irredeemable” to refer to some of Donald Trump‘s supporters, her vice presidential pick replied, “That’s not a word I would use. I wouldn’t use it.”
Clinton made her comments during a speech in New York City — the one in which she infamously referred to “half” of her opponent’s supporters as a “basket of deplorables.”
“I think we would be unrealistic to think that some people are going to fundamentally change their view,” Kaine went on. “If they’ve clung to the view for five years, as Donald Trump has, that President Obama is not a citizen of this country, I don’t think they’re going to change their views.”
Clinton’s vice presidential pick did, however, echo her use of the word “deplorable.”
“She is very worried, as am I, about the deplorable motivations of those who would question President Obama’s citizenship or people like David Duke, who are doing robo calls, saying people should vote for Donald Trump,” Clinton’s VP pick said. “We’ve expressed it differently, but you have to call out these dark emotions because if you let them pass, you actually can let them grow.”
However, Kaine said that he was hopeful that some of Trump’s supporters — the ones who aren’t motivated by racism, xenophobia, and other toxic emotions — would come over to team Clinton. “There are other Trump voters who are really concerned about economic anxieties, not demographic issues, but economic anxieties,” he said. “And we have an obligation to speak to them.”