David Jackson

USA TODAY

ASTON, Pa. — From the fundraising circuit to campaign stops in places like suburban Philadelphia, Donald Trump is trying to turn Hillary Clinton's "basket of deplorables" comment from last week into this year's version of Mitt Romney's "47%" remark from the 2012 election.

Just as Romney's comment that 47% of the electorate would be with President Obama because they are "dependent upon government" undermined his campaign, Trump and his aides are looking for a similar effect from Clinton's claim that half of the businessman's supporters are racist xenophobes, saying it reflects disdain for all Americans.

"While my opponent slanders you as deplorable and irredeemable, I call you hardworking American patriots who love your country and want a better future for all of our people," Trump said this week in Iowa. His campaign has highlighted the remark in fundraising solicitations.

Trump supporters who gathered at a community gym in Aston, Pa., near Philadelphia, to hear their candidate Tuesday evening said Clinton should speak for herself.

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Paula Squillacioti, 47, who owns a flower shop in southwestern Philadelphia, said the Democratic nominee "lies about everything" and "can't tell the truth" about anything.

"She's got a lot of nerve," Squillacioti said. "The things that she's done? She's deplorable."

Clinton's comment, uttered at a fundraiser late last week, has also inspired a debate about the nature of Trump's support.

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The Clinton campaign and its backers have pointed to numerous polls showing that the businessman's supporters have negative views toward Hispanics, African-Americans and Muslims. Surveys have also found many Trump backers believe President Obama is some kind of secret Muslim and do not believe the nation's first African-American president was born in the United States.

Last week, the Democratic nominee said, "you know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic — you name it."

Clinton has since said it was wrong to say that "half" of Trump's supporters fell into that group, but said she would continue to speak out against intolerance from the GOP nominee or his supporters. This week, she hit Trump running mate Mike Pence for declining to describe Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke as "deplorable."

"Trump and Pence's courting of white supremacists isn't a game: It's normalizing racism," Clinton said in a tweet. "And it's deplorable."

Pence, speaking on CNN, said the campaign rejects Duke's endorsement, adding that "we don't want his support and we don't want the support of people who think like him." Asked whether Duke is "deplorable," Pence said, "I'm not in the name-calling business."

At Trump rallies, some supporters have taken to wearing T-shirts identifying themselves as "deplorables."

Those who gathered to hear Trump deliver a child care speech in Aston this week said Clinton and other critics do not understand the people who support the GOP nominee.

Clinton "offended millions and millions of people," said Carl Strickland, 46, who owns a ceramic tile business in Garnet Valley, Pa.

Will it hurt her in the election? "I hope so," he said. "I mean, 47% hurt Romney."

Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said Clinton's crack "shows you what she thinks of the American people" and "will have an impact" on the election.

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Trump fans used various labels to describe themselves: patriotic, hardworking, pro-military, loyal, no-nonsense. They are worried about illegal immigration and terrorism and concerned that the United States is in decline.

Strickland described Trump supporters as middle-class people tired of "paying everybody's way."

Marie Clark, 58, who runs a dental office and lives in Landenberg, Pa., said Trump backers want "illegal aliens ... aliens ... vetted before they enter the country."

"He's talking to blue-collar people," Clark said. "That's what I see."

Some political analysts question how many actual votes Trump will win off Clinton's comment.

Stuart Rothenberg, a non-partisan political analyst, said Trump needs to be careful with his line of argument, given Clinton's argument about "extremists" who back his campaign.

"A discussion of this feeds her narrative," Rothenberg said.

Ryan Williams, a Republican strategist and a spokesman for Romney's 2012 campaign, said Clinton's "basket of deplorables" is more of "a rallying cry" for people who already back Trump.

Whether it changes the minds of independent voters is another question.

"I think it will have an impact," Williams said, "but not a huge impact."