Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance insisted that Donald Trump’s threats to send the military after “the enemy within” were not aimed at Democrats, but rather at “far-left people who are committing acts of violence,” saying the Republican presidential candidate’s own words floated around. subject.
“Donald Trump never said that Americans write big. You keep putting words in his mouth,” Vance said in an interview that aired Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” with host Jake Tapper.
“He has said publicly that he wants to use the military to go after the enemy within, which is the American people,” Tapper responded.
Trump has made no effort to qualify his “enemy within” comments. Earlier this month, he told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo that “the bigger problem is the enemy within” when asked whether the American public should worry about possible violence from “outside agitators” on Election Day.
“We have some very bad people, we have some sick people, radical left lunatics,” Trump told Bartimo. “And it should be handled very easily by, if necessary, the National Guard, or, if really necessary, by the military.”
In a separate interview, Trump doubled down and included top California Democrats such as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Adam Schiff.
“These are bad people. We have a lot of bad people,” Trump said on Fox News’ “Media Buzz.” “But if you look at ‘Shifty Schiff’ and some of the others, yeah, to me they’re the enemy from within. I think Nancy Pelosi is an enemy from within.”
But Vance continued to downplay Trump’s comments during his interview with CNN, claiming that the former president’s threat to go after the “enemy within” the country did not necessarily mean involving the military.
“He didn’t say that, Jake. He said he’s going to send the military after the American people? Show me the quote where he said that,” Vance said.
Tapper then read him a quote from a Trump interview on Friday with podcaster Joe Rogan, in which he also said that “the enemy from within” the United States poses a greater threat to the country than North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
“It drives them crazy when I use that term,” Trump told Rogan. “But we have an enemy from within. We have people who are really bad people and who I think want to make this country unsuccessful.”
Watch Vance’s exchange with Tapper below:
