Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is once again drawing backlash following remarks in which she described nearly all Republican women as “handmaidens to the patriarchy.”
The comments were made during an interview conducted May 1 at The 92nd Street Y in New York and published online on May 15.
Clinton was responding to a question from interviewer Margaret Hoover, who asked what advice she would give to “the first female president of the United States.”
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Clinton replied, “Well, first of all, don’t be a handmaiden to the patriarchy, which kind of eliminates every woman on the other side of the aisle, except for very few.”
She specifically named Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska as one of the few Republican women she did not consider a “handmaiden.”
Murkowski has frequently broken with Republican leadership and has publicly opposed several actions taken by President Donald Trump, including his consideration of Pete Hegseth for Defense Secretary and the pardoning of individuals involved in the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot.
In April, she joined Senate Democrats and a small group of Republicans in voting to end Trump’s national emergency declaration related to tariffs on Canadian imports.
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Former Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney was also brought up during the conversation.
Hoover mentioned Cheney, and Clinton responded affirmatively, saying, “Yeah, there’s a few.”
Cheney was one of two Republicans appointed to the House Select Committee investigating the events of January 6 and later endorsed former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
Cheney lost her 2022 re-election campaign by over 37 percent to Trump-backed challenger Harriet Hageman.
Clinton added that supporting a woman candidate depends on her qualifications and values, stating, “Look, first we have to get there, and it is, you know, obviously so much harder than it should be. So, you know, if a woman runs who I think would be a good president — as I thought Kamala Harris would be, and as I knew I would be — I will support that woman.”
Clinton’s commentary echoes her previous controversial remarks from the 2016 presidential campaign.
On September 9, 2016, she said at a fundraiser in New York, “You could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic — you name it.”
Hillary: “you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, you name it.” pic.twitter.com/btwUk8EHl9
— Matt Wolking (@MattWolking) October 11, 2024
She added, “Some of those folks — they are irredeemable, but thankfully they are not America.”
The statement was widely criticized and became a flashpoint in the 2016 election, which she lost to Donald Trump two months later.
Clinton issued a partial retraction the following day, saying, “Last night I was ‘grossly generalistic,’ and that’s never a good idea. I regret saying ‘half’ — that was wrong.”
Similar rhetoric emerged in 2024 from Joe Biden, who referred to Trump supporters as “garbage” during an October event.
Deplorables, racists, homophobic, transphobic, uneducated, antisemitic, fascists, bigots, xenophobic. Now we’re ‘garbage.’
Do Democrats realize that demonizing half the country they aim to represent isn’t the path to winning elections??pic.twitter.com/YSLHZSE0vQ
— Javon A. Price (@JavonAPrice) October 30, 2024
The comment sparked backlash, to which Trump responded by holding a press conference from inside a garbage truck in Green Bay, Wisconsin, wearing a bright safety vest.
President Trump tells the story of how the garbage truck and the orange vest came to be.
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 30, 2024
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The May 1 interview featuring Clinton and Hoover was part of a broader discussion on women in politics and the barriers female candidates face.
However, Clinton’s remarks about Republican women have reignited concerns about her long history of polarizing language directed at conservative voters.
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