Pastor Robert Jeffress has accused
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton of “hate speech”
and “intolerance” for calling out the “deplorables” who
support Donald Trump.
During a fundraiser in New York City
hosted by Barbra Streisand, Clinton said: “To be grossly
generalistic, you could put half of Trump supporters into what I call
the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic,
xenophobic, Islamaphobic, you name it. But that other basket of
people are people who feel the government has let them down, the
economy has let them down, nobody cares about them.”
In a statement, Clinton said, “I
regret saying 'half' – that was wrong,” but pledged to continue
to call out the “bigotry” in Trump's campaign.
Jeffress, who ministers at First
Baptist Church in Dallas and has a long record of anti-gay,
anti-Mormon and anti-Catholic rhetoric, criticized Clinton's comments
during an appearance on conservative radio.
“I tell you, it reveals the hypocrisy
of liberalism, and that is liberals who cry loudest for tolerance are
usually the most intolerant people in the world when it comes to
ideas with which they disagree,” Jeffress
told radio host Mike Gallagher. “I mean, think about it,
according to Clinton you’re a racist if you believe in secure
borders, you’re xenophobic if you believe people ought to only be
in this country legally and you’re homophobic if you believe in
traditional marriage. The fact is, Hillary Clinton is exhibit A of
intolerance and her comments Friday were nothing but hate speech.”
Jeffress has previously claimed that
Jews, Mormons, Muslims and gay men and lesbians are
headed for hell. He's also compared homosexuality to bestiality,
calling it “a miserable lifestyle.”
(Related: Robert
Jeffress compares gay sex to plugging a TV into the wrong outlet.)