It seems like a lifetime ago that Hillary Clinton, onstage at a fundraiser podium in 2016, let fly with what we’re all pretty sure she thought was one of the cleverest riffs of her public speaking career.

…You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right?

[Laughter/applause]

The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic — you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up.

Lord, she ate up the howling from the audience. As the mask crumbled and cracked off those cheeks, that smug smirk spelled out pretty clearly that she meant every word. It wasn’t a rhetorical allusion gone awry – that’s who she believed -still believes – Trump voters were.

And so the “Deplorables” were birthed. It became a kind of anti-Clinton secret club because it perfectly encapsulated all the built-up sense of injustice and waning patience with being sneered at Americans were experiencing. Damn near everyone you knew could join for one or more of the terms, and snicker when a friend mentioned them.

Tired of being racist when you’re merely sick of groups being favored for skin color only. Islamaphobic because you pointed out that only one current religion had religious leaders who preach violence. Homophobic if you wanted to live your faith at your business, and allow your religion to be practiced per its tenets unmolested in its place of worship. Xenophobic when you only want those to come who would help make America a better place, not diminish or destroy her. And being aware that everything isn’t about women made you a misogynist.

We were so over it, all of them. Took Hillary’s sneer as a rallying cry and internally shouted DAMN, RIGHT! I AM DEPLORABLE. Turned it on its ear.

Another phenomenon that was born at the same time was what they called “the shy Trump voter.” There were no bumper stickers, wouldn’t answer phone calls for polls, and made it very difficult to gauge where Trump’s support was. Here in Pensacola, it was the first time I’d ever seen the vehicles in our local hippie-dippie co-op parking lot NOT festooned with the Democratic candidate’s stickers. That was amazing. (I will confess to not having a Trump sticker because I like the paint job on my car.)

People like Salena Zito picked up on it in her travels through the backroads of places like Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio. Yard signs told part of the tale, but more folks would discuss it in the diners, stores, and coffee shops she stopped at. Maybe not Trump specifically, but their dissatisfaction with the current state of the country. (Sound familiar?)

Even though Clinton was polling so much better than Trump, there was a tangible sumpthin’ sumpthin’ in the air. Deplorables showed them what it was at the ballot box in November 2016. Delightfully, nobody was more shocked than the woman in the purple and black suit.

Fast forward to now. “Deplorables” as a pejorative seems so quaint upon reflection, and for sure, life in these United States was so much better even just a little over 2 years ago. After Biden’s promising to be our big uniter and “the grown-up,” the past year and a half has been an unmitigated disaster. Not a single sector of life is untouched, unsullied and/or damn near destroyed by his administration, topped off with an openly declared war on half the country.

Per the great uniter against the blood red Reichstag background, we’re no longer “deplorable.” We’re now “extremists” who represent “a threat to the very foundation of our Republic.” And Americans are pissed.

But where there was a “shy” Trump voter before, our society has devolved into vindictive, punitive personal and professional cancelations for expressed opinions that used to be a right. Again, making polling very challenging during this critical mid-term coming up. Concerned liberals are dubbing such people “submerged.”

It's October 2022 and voter demonization has 'submerged voters' approaching crush depth. What to do?

Why you avoid phones & add known urban/metro skewing commercial online panel & text message completes in for the missing Republicans & Independents. That's the ticket.

😂 https://t.co/3QnDmTaa9A pic.twitter.com/hTNTiMYedZ

— Rasmussen Reports (@Rasmussen_Poll) October 3, 2022

Trafalgar Group chief pollster Robert Cahaly has a partial explanation in this tweet…

In 2016 Trump supporters were called “Deplorables” and other unflattering names. This was a major contributor to the “shy Trump voter” phenomenon that “most” polling missed which resulted in a major loss in public confidence for polling flowing the election.

— Robert C. Cahaly (@RobertCahaly) September 17, 2022

…but in this short excerpt of an interview with Seb Gorka, he goes into detail, and it is so sad. The paranoia this administration has induced – spying on American citizens at will, lying blithely to federal judges if need be, using federal goons as stormtroopers to quash any degree of dissent – is absolutely disgraceful, unconscionable, unconstitutional, and unAmerican. I’d encourage you to spend three minutes listening.

The BIG Democrat lie about November. @RobertCahaly joins #AMERICAFirst

FULL INTERVIEW HERE: https://t.co/tMTwUyACXS pic.twitter.com/LkSbIwt5yQ

— Sebastian Gorka DrG (@SebGorka) October 4, 2022

It’s a terrible thing 81M-LOL voters have done to this country, compounded by a radical, enabling Congress in control. I pray that the “sumpthin’ sumpthin'” I hear everywhere from everyone now, and that the honest stalwarts like Cahaly, Rasmussen, Zito, et al are reading the room correctly. That what they hear is a submerged red wave rolling towards shore.