Donald Trump called Hillary Clinton 'a bigot.' Here are two essential reactions.

Donald Trump calls Hillary Clinton a bigot — (Image credit: Twitter/@CNN)

At a rally in Jackson, Mississippi, on Wednesday night, Donald Trump accused Hillary Clinton of being "a bigot." The line, included in prepared remarks passed out to reporters, came in the middle of Trump's purported appeal to black voters and appeared to take the overwhelmingly white crowd by surprise. Clinton "sees people of color only as votes, not as human beings worthy of a better future," Trump said. "She's going to do nothing for African-Americans. She's going to do nothing for the Hispanics." A woman behind Trump to the left quickly became a sensation for reflecting the crowd's uncertainty on Trump's "bigot" line in a very animated manner.

But Clinton herself addressed the remark in a call to CNN's Anderson Cooper, who asked her if she had a response to being called a bigot by Donald Trump. "Oh, Anderson, it reminds me of that great saying that Maya Angelou had, that when someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time," she said. "And Donald Trump has shown us who he is, and we ought to believe him. He is bringing a hate movement mainstream, he's bringing it into his campaign." She accused Trump of "very much peddling bigotry and prejudice and paranoia."

Clinton said she would have more to add at a rally in Reno, Nevada, on Thursday.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.