Although Hillary Clinton is running against a man who casts himself as the ultimate alpha male hero, capable of striking down enemies with mere words, it is Hillary Clinton who brings the towering strength of courage to the stage.

Thus we find Clinton in the middle of a media storm for saying that half of Donald Trump’s supporters are a basket of deplorables. “You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic — you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up,” Clinton told a crowd Friday.

“But let’s be clear, what’s really ‘deplorable’ is that Donald Trump hired a major advocate for the so-called ‘alt-right’ movement to run his campaign and that David Duke and other white supremacists see him as a champion of their values.”

“It’s deplorable that Trump has built his campaign largely on prejudice and paranoia and given a national platform to hateful views and voices, including by retweeting fringe bigots with a few dozen followers and spreading their message to 11 million people.”

“It’s deplorable that he’s attacked a federal judge for his ‘Mexican heritage,’ bullied a Gold Star family because of their Muslim faith, and promoted the lie that our first black president is not a true American. ”

“So I won’t stop calling out bigotry and racist rhetoric in this campaign,” Clinton vowed.

Among those Trump voters:

-- 67 percent have an unfavorable view of Americans Muslims (versus 35 percent of all voters who say this);

-- 87 percent support a temporary ban against all Muslims who aren't U.S. citizens from entering the United States (versus 47 percent of all voters);

-- 55 percent believe illegal immigrants working in the United States should be deported (versus 29 percent all voters);

-- 45 percent describe themselves as "pro-choice" on abortion (versus 60 percent of all voters);

On a fall morning 15 years ago, the unthinkable happened and thousands died in the worst terrorist attack to take place on American soil. Within moments, our heroic first responders rushed into action to save lives and prevent further tragedy. But the reach of the terrorists went beyond 9/11 and many of our bravest men and women suffered, and continued to suffer, from illnesses and injuries that resulted from their heroism.

From early on, Hillary Clinton was one of the champions of those first responders and their families. Her record on the issue speaks for itself. Many of the first responders and their family members also speak for Clinton and what she did for them. Here are some examples:

Vincent Variale, New York City Fire Department; president of Uniformed EMS Officers Union Local 3621:

"There's something else I will never forget about that time. How our senator, Hillary Clinton, stood with us to ensure first responders, like me, got the funding and the health care we needed. I remember seeing her down at Ground Zero, reassuring us that she would do everything in her power to make sure we had the support we needed. Hillary kept her promise. She understands the sacrifices we made that terrible day and the months that followed, and she understands the sacrifices people who serve their communities make every day."


Joe Sweeney, officer and detective in the New York City Police Department

"And when we needed someone to speak for us, to stand with us, to fight on our behalf, Hillary Clinton was there, every step of the way. Within 48 hours of the towers falling, Hillary introduced a bill—signed into law—that helped first responders get the benefits they earned easier and faster. Then she pressured the [Environmental Protection Agency] to launch a new task force and led congressional hearings until the EPA admitted the air hadn’t been safe. A lot of people moved on; they thought everything was fine. But Hillary Clinton kept in touch and kept at it. Ten years later, Hillary Clinton was still our toughest champion, making sure we still got our health benefits."

The Clinton who emerges from the WNYC tapes is passionate, raw and unrestrained. Above all, she is livid. She had just learned that the Bush administration instructed officials of the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reassure New Yorkers after 9/11 that the air over Ground Zero was safe. In fact, they had a pretty good idea that it was a toxic pall of asbestos, cement, glass dust, heavy metals, fuels and PCBs.

“I am outraged,” Clinton went on. “In the immediate aftermath, the first couple of days, nobody could know. But a week later? Two weeks later? Two months later? Six months later? Give me a break!”

Then a uniformed firefighter with battalion 58 in Canarsie, Brooklyn, Alles arrived at Ground Zero 20 minutes after the second tower collapsed. He stayed there for two days and nights, seeking survivors amid the ruins. What struck him most about Clinton that day, he said, was what he called her “compassion”.

“She really went out of her way to speak to the first responders on the site to reassure them,” he said. “I never forgot it.”

Alles was also struck by how Clinton quickly grasped the potential health risks of Ground Zero, and how doggedly she pursued treatment for those who suffered. “We all knew from the get-go that the air was contaminated,” he said, “but we had a job to do so we kept on working. Senator Clinton was at the forefront over dealing with it, she showed herself to be a fighter.”