#BasementDwellers rocketed to the top trending spot on Twitter Saturday, after hacked audio popped up online of Hillary Clinton supposedly labeling Bernie Sanders’ millennial supporters.
The thing is, she never called them that.
The audio tape in question was from a private event in February and first published on the conservative Washington Free Beacon site. Young voters have shown an interest in Sanders from day one and, on the tape, Clinton gives her opinion as to why.
Here are Clinton’s comments in full:
“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,” Clinton said. “I met with a group of young black millennials today, and, you know, one of the young women said, ‘You know, none of us feel like we have the job that we should have gotten out of college, and we don’t believe the job market is going to give us much of a chance.’”
She continues:
“So that is a mindset that is really affecting their politics, and so 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. So I think we should all be really understanding of that and should try to do the best we can not to be, you know, a wet blanket on idealism — you want people to be idealistic; you want them to set big goals — but to take what we can achieve now and try to present them as bigger goals.”
Although the entirety of her recorded statement can easily be heard, Twitter outrage over her rumored quote spread like wildfire. Here are a few voters who either blast or back Clinton:
A message to all #BasementDwellers: We still have room in our #BasketOfDeplorables for you. We aren't the enemy. Hillary's establishment is. pic.twitter.com/2l7DBsvxBl
— Kaizuka Inaho (@AZKG6) October 1, 2016
https://twitter.com/JoePrich/status/782336690727727104
https://twitter.com/bocavista2016/status/782325459392598016
Holy moley that's a lonnnnnggggg line! Good thing the #Deplorables/#BasementDwellers are patient folks. #Election2016 https://t.co/25DfnwLVyH
— Adryenn Ashley (@adryenn) October 1, 2016
https://twitter.com/PamelaAffect/status/782336691948417024