There were huge news events over the weekend. Let’s start with the most deplorable.

While speaking Friday evening at an “LGBT For Hillary Gala,” which featured a performance by Barbara Streisand, Clinton said this about conservatives supporting Donald Trump:

“You could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables… The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic — you name it… some of those folks, they are irredeemable.”

Calling millions of conservatives “deplorable” and “irredeemable” — that is deplorable!

Her campaign quickly realized how damaging the comment was. After all, her campaign slogan is “Stronger Together.” Well, clearly, she’s not trying to bring us together. She’s trying to unite the left while she destroys conservatives!

Saturday, Hillary admitted she was wrong, sort of. She said, “I regret saying ‘half.’ That was wrong.” Really? That’s it? So her math was off, but her condescending attitude toward conservatives was just fine.

Trump’s campaign responded with a hard-hitting ad. Watch it here.

Addressing the National Guard Association today, Donald Trump fired back, saying:

“We have the support of cops and soldiers, carpenters and welders, the young and the old, and millions of working-class families who just want a better future. These were the people Hillary Clinton so viciously demonized. These were among the countless Americans that Hillary Clinton called ‘deplorable,’ ‘irredeemable’ and ‘un-American.’ She called these patriotic men and women every vile name in the book… She divides people into baskets as though they were objects, not human beings.”

Clinton’s “deplorable” remark was widely compared to Barack Obama’s “bitter clingers” quote and to Mitt Romney’s off-the-cuff remark about 47% of the population being takers rather than producers. Romney spent a week on defense apologizing for that remark.

And it looked like this was going to be the big news of the weekend and a big negative for Hillary. But I think we should consider another possibility. It wasn’t a slip of the tongue at all. Unlike Romney, who thought he was in a private setting, Clinton knew that this was a high profile event, loaded with celebrities. These comments were not off-the-cuff.

Far from being a mistake, this was a follow-up to the speech she gave in Reno, Nevada, in which she accused Donald Trump of being a racist and denounced his campaign for “taking hate groups mainstream.” This is all part of Clinton’s grand scheme to scare undecided voters, and to thwart Trump’s appeal to minority voters.

But this controversy was just getting started when another erupted.

Clinton Collapses

Often friends or reporters ask me, “Gary, what will happen this November?” I always tell them that the election is likely to be determined by events we can’t predict. One of those events took place [Sunday].

After attending the 9/11 memorial ceremony in New York City for about 90 minutes, Clinton suddenly got up and left the event. The abruptness of her exit grabbed the media’s attention. Campaign staff were unable to answer questions as to why the candidate was leaving.

Hillary was escorted to a curb where she had to wait for her motorcade to arrive. It wasn’t there waiting for her because she was leaving early. What happened next was a nightmare for the Clinton campaign.

Her van pulled up and as Clinton started to step off the curb, her knees buckled. The only thing that prevented her from falling to the ground were the staffers who grabbed her and propped her up. The Daily Beast quoted a senior law enforcement official as saying, “They threw her in like she was a side of beef.” Watch it here.

Clinton’s collapse happened after weeks of sparring with the Trump campaign and the media over the state of her health. Trump has alleged that Hillary doesn’t have the stamina to be president. Her campaign responded by attacking journalists and media outlets who dared to ask questions about her health.

For hours [Sunday] the Clinton campaign said nothing, as the candidate retreated to her daughter’s apartment. But once the video of her collapse started going viral, we were told that Clinton felt overheated. Hours later, the campaign acknowledged that Hillary had been diagnosed with pneumonia two days earlier and was taking antibiotics. She later cancelled events for [Monday] and [today].

Does anyone think Hillary Clinton would have told the American people she had pneumonia if she hadn’t collapsed at the memorial?

Once again, a Clinton has been caught doing what the Clintons always seem to be doing — lying. Whether it is Bill’s escapades, Hillary’s handling of classified information or her health, they do everything they can to avoid the truth.

I think the coverage of the last 24 hours has been very damaging. Hillary’s health is now a major issue.

Veteran journalist Tom Brokaw said [Sunday], “I think that she should go to a hospital, see a neurologist, and get a clean report if it is available. This is not something that is going to be dealt with at her daughter’s apartment.”

Famed Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein agreed, saying, “I think … she and her doctor need to be in front of the press for an hour with medical records, discussing and open to questions about her medical history,” adding that voters need to “demand” information about her health.

NBC’s Andrea Mitchell said, “There’s never a good time for a candidate to get sick in the middle of a campaign, of course, but the way Clinton has handled this has likely made it a lot worse.”

There are even some whispers about Democrats finding a new nominee.

Personal Note

As you may know, the Values Voter Summit wrapped up over the weekend. As always, it was a tremendous event! Donald Trump and Mike Pence delivered incredible speeches. I also addressed the Summit and received a great reception. If you missed my remarks, you can watch them here.

As the Summit ended, Carol and I were honored to be asked by Mike and Karen Pence to fly back to Indianapolis with them on the campaign plane. […]

The trip gave us a lot of time to speak to the man who I believe will be the next vice president of the United States. We talked about the issues confronting the country and what millions of Americans are hoping a new conservative administration can do to make America great again.

Carol and I have known Mike and Karen for many years, even before Mike was elected to Congress. We know their hearts. It was a great way to spend some quality time, talking about the things that all of us — including you — care about.

I can tell you that the campaign is upbeat and confident. They know the weeks ahead will be brutal, but they believe that the country wants change and that they have the right solutions.

Carol and I promised the Pences and their staff that we would pray for their wisdom every day and for Donald Trump. I hope each of you will join us in praying every day that our country will be restored rather than transformed.

Together we can make this nation the shining city upon a hill that our founding fathers envisioned. We can make America great again!