--- title: Why Donald Trump is Holding His Fire Today description: It was a rough weekend for Hillary Clinton, who called half of Donald Trump's supporters a "basket of deplorables" and was ill on Sunday. canonical: https://time.com/4487234/why-donald-trump-is-holding-his-fire-today/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-12T14:34:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T00:31:29.743Z article:section: Politics og:title: Why Donald Trump is Holding His Fire Today og:description: It was a rough weekend for Hillary Clinton, who called half of Donald Trump's supporters a "basket of deplorables" and was ill on Sunday. og:url: https://time.com/4487234/why-donald-trump-is-holding-his-fire-today/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0abe614b083d125c/6988a594fb4eac0ca388f0e5/donald-trump-no-comments.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: NY: Memorial service at the National 9/11 Memorial og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Donald Trump is Holding His Fire Today twitter:description: It was a rough weekend for Hillary Clinton, who called half of Donald Trump's supporters a "basket of deplorables" and was ill on Sunday. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0abe614b083d125c/6988a594fb4eac0ca388f0e5/donald-trump-no-comments.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Donald Trump is Holding His Fire Today > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Sep 12, 2016 2:34 PM UTC  Rudy Giuliani, Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump and Gov. Chris Christie attend a memorial service at the National 9/11 Memorial in New York on September 11, 2016. Rudy Giuliani, Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump and Gov. Chris Christie attend a memorial service at the National 9/11 Memorial in New York on September 11, 2016. Oakes De Mandeville—Sipa USA by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Sep 12, 2016 2:34 PM UTC **_If you only read one thing:_** _It was a rough weekend for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, who on Friday cast “half” of Donald Trump’s supporters as belonging to a “basket of deplorables” of -ists and -phobes. After 12 hours she was forced to apologize, saying she didn’t mean “half,” but standing by her comments that many of his supporters are “irredeemable.” On Sunday, after a week of aggressive coughing, Clinton was forced to leave the New York 9/11 memorial service in a health scare and needed assistance entering her van. Leaving the press wondering about her whereabouts for more than an hour, Clinton traveled first to her daughter’s home and then to her own, where she was seen by her doctor who revealed she was dehydrated and has been diagnosed with pneumonia—providing more fodder to conservative conspiracy theorists. The weekend highlighted some of Clinton’s core faults as a candidate: reflexive secrecy and disdain for those voters who don’t support her. While there is little doubt that Trump has benefited from the support from the support of extremists, casting such a wide net will linger longer over her campaign, as she divided Trump’s supporters into the deplorables and the losers—who have been left behind the economy—seemingly failing to see any redeeming quality in either. At the end of the day she hopes to be their president too, and in criticizing them, gave Trump a potent talking point. Trump released a new_ [_ad_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gj7CLJbyjrk&feature=youtu.be) _attacking Clinton’s comments and is set to criticize them in his first campaign event today._ As Clinton recovers, Trump, who has questioned her health and stamina repeatedly this year, is holding his fire. The GOP nominee believes he has already won by raising doubts about Clinton’s health and that he doesn’t have to pile on. Meanwhile Trump is set to discuss his health with Dr. Oz and promised to release the results of a physical last week. No word on whether it will be more informative (and less boastful) than his last doctor’s note. His campaign is also taking a subtle dig at Clinton highlighting Trump’s upcoming six-day swing through swing states—which isn’t exactly much of a feat. Clinton steps up her outreach to GOP voters. Florida tests the strategies of Trump and Clinton. And Michelle Obama is the best surrogate. _Here are your must reads:_ **Must Reads** [Hillary Clinton’s Bad Weekend Highlights Election’s Unpredictability ](http://time.com/4486928/hillary-clinton-health-pnemonia-deplorables/)TIME’s Philip Elliott on 36 hours of Clinton pain [Donald Trump’s Coming Clash With the Military Generals ](http://time.com/4486862/donald-trumps-coming-clash-with-the-military-generals/)TIME’s Mark Thompson on why some of the candidate’s words jar those in uniform [Hillary Clinton Says Half of Donald Trump’s Supporters Are in ‘Basket of Deplorables’ ](http://time.com/4486437/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-basket-of-deplorables/)She later said she regrets saying ‘half’ \[TIME\] [Donors in Most Industries Back Hillary Clinton ](http://www.wsj.com/articles/donors-in-most-industries-back-hillary-clinton-1473462212)In 2012, Republican Mitt Romney drew 62% of donations from employees of the sectors studied \[Wall Street Journal\] **Sound Off** “You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic — you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people — now how 11 million. He tweets and retweets their offensive hateful mean-spirited rhetoric. Now, some of those folks — they are irredeemable, but thankfully they are not America.” — Hillary Clinton at a fundraiser Friday night. “I think this is the biggest mistake of the political season.” —Donald Trump to Fox and Friends on the above comment. **Bits and Bites** [Donald Trump Wishes Hillary Clinton a Speedy Recovery](http://time.com/4487240/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-health-pneumonia/) \[TIME\] [Trump to release ‘very, very specific’ health information this week](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/09/12/trump-to-release-very-very-specific-health-information-this-week/) \[Washington Post\] [Hillary Clinton Steps Up Outreach to Republican Voters in New Ad](http://time.com/4486321/hillary-clinton-outreach-republican-voters/) \[TIME\] [Donald Trump to Discuss ‘Personal Health Regimen’ on Dr. Oz Show](http://time.com/4486249/donald-trump-dr-oz-health-regimen/) \[TIME\] [Michelle Obama Brings Voters’ Trust to Hillary Clinton’s Campaign](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/12/us/politics/michelle-obama-brings-voters-trust-to-hillary-clintons-campaign.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news) \[New York Times\] [Real-Time Election Day Projections May Upend News Tradition](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/11/us/politics/election-results-voting.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news) \[New York Times\] [Florida Tests Divergent Strategies of Clinton, Trump](http://www.wsj.com/articles/florida-tests-divergent-strategies-of-clinton-trump-1473638422) \[Wall Street Journal\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4487234/why-donald-trump-is-holding-his-fire-today/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4487234/why-donald-trump-is-holding-his-fire-today/"},"headline":"Why Donald Trump is Holding His Fire Today","datePublished":"2016-09-12T14:34:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T00:31:29.743Z","description":"Morning Must Reads: September 12","url":"https://time.com/4487234/why-donald-trump-is-holding-his-fire-today/","keywords":["Morning Must Reads"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0abe614b083d125c/6988a594fb4eac0ca388f0e5/donald-trump-no-comments.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0abe614b083d125c/6988a594fb4eac0ca388f0e5/donald-trump-no-comments.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"NY: Memorial service at the National 9/11 Memorial","caption":"Rudy Giuliani, Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump and Gov. 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