Rachel Cusk, “The Age of Rudeness” (2017)

[…] “In the United States, Hillary Clinton calls half the supporters of Donald Trump ‘a basket of deplorables.’ At first the remark impressed me. I approved of Clinton for her courage and honesty, while reflecting on her curious choice of words. ‘Basket of deplorables’ almost sounded like a phrase from Dr. Seuss: It would be typical of him to put deplorables in a basket, for the moral amusement of his young readers. A sack or a box of deplorables wouldn’t be the same thing at all, and a swamp of deplorables is too Dante-esque; but a basket is just the kind of zany, cheerful container that makes light of the deplorables while still putting them in their place.” […]    —The New York Times (February 15, 2017)