Vance insists Trump’s “enemy from within” comments were not directed at political rivals

Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance emphasized that Donald Trump‘s attacks on “the enemy withinwere not aimed at Democratic Party leaders, but at deviant Americans whom he described as “far-left lunatics” who were poised to revolt if the former president won in November.

Pressed by CNN’s Jake Tapper about Trump’s use of the loaded phrase, Vance defended his ticket mate, saying the former president wouldn’t unleash the military on “Americans write big.”

“He has said publicly that he wants to use the military to go after the enemy within, which is the American people,” Tapper said in an interview that aired Sunday on “State of the Union.”

“He didn’t say that, Jake,” the Ohio senator replied. “He said he was going to send the military after the American people? Show me the quote where he said that.’

Trump earlier this month initially proposed the use of military force on election day to tackle the ‘enemy from within’, referring to the potential chaos sown by ‘radical left-wing lunatics’. Than, in a Fox News interviewTrump called California Rep. Adam Schiff and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “an enemy from within.” Most recently published on a podcast with Joe Rogan On Friday, Trump said that “the enemy within” – Americans with different politics – pose a greater threat to the US than nuclear-armed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The former president has spoken in grimmer and more threatening terms as the campaign enters its final days. His claim that political rivals are traitors to the American people echoes the language of authoritarians and strongmen around the world. However, Vance argued that Trump was simply misunderstood.

“He said he wanted to use the military to go after far-left lunatics who are rising up, and … he also called them ‘the enemy within.’ He said separately, in a completely different context, in a completely different conversation, that Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff were a threat to this country,” Vance said, echoing a script other Republicans have stuck to when faced with similar questions.

“What he’s talking about is marauding mobs,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told Tapper last week when asked about Trump’s comments.

Like Vance, Johnson — even after being confronted with Trump’s choice of Pelosi and Schiff — said the former president was not talking about using the military against political opponents.

“I did not hear President Trump say in that segment that he is going to attack the military on Adam Schiff. That’s not what he’s saying,” the Louisiana Republican said. “You have two different clips in two different contexts.”

The week before, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, who also spoke with Tapper, said Trump was not talking about political opponents.

“I think what I want to make very clear is that it is my belief that what former President Trump is talking about is the people who are coming across the border, who are actually committing crimes, who are bringing drugs, who are trafficking in human beings and who are making every state in changing a border state,” the Republican governor said.

There is no known credible threat from American leftists – many of whom have soured on Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris – regarding post-election violence or “riots.”

Take on Republican Trump critics

In his interview, Vance also pushed back hard on what has become a favorite attack of the Harris campaign, which often notes that a growing number of prominent former Trump administration officials have said their old boss is unfit for office.

“The people who know Donald Trump best, the people who worked with him in the White House, in the Situation Room, in the Oval Office – all Republicans, by the way – who served in his administration, his former chief of staff, his National Security Advisor, Former defense secretaries and his vice president have all called him unfit and dangerous,” Harris said at a news conference CNN town hall last week.

Vance claimed that these former administration officials targeted Trump because he rebuffed their efforts to control his behavior and push for “ridiculous military conflicts.” The group also includes Trump’s longest-serving chief of staff, John Kelly, who said so The New York Times last week that the former president meets the “common definition of fascist.”

Kelly said it was “a new concept” for Trump that top officials’ loyalty was to the Constitution, not the president personally, and that Trump praised Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s generals for their loyalty.

Vance then argued that Kelly’s concerns about Trump were based on policy and “not personality.”

“No, (Kelly) agrees with Trump on most policies,” Tapper said. “He disagrees with Trump on how Trump sees his role and his role, fascism and authoritarianism.”

Vance tried to shift the terms of the discussion from Trump’s behavior to Kelly and other conservative Republicans’ data against Trump.

“If you really look at John Kelly, and people like it Liz CheneyThe fundamental disagreement they have with Donald Trump is that even though they say they are conservative, they are conservative in the sense that they want America to get involved in a lot of ridiculous military conflicts,” Vance said.

Cheney, a former Wyoming congresswoman, and her father, a former vice president and war architect in Iraq Dick Cheneyhave both endorsed Harris.

At an event in Waterford, Michigan, last week, Vance described Kelly as a “disgruntled ex-employee” who was “pissed off” about being fired by Trump.

“So all these… people, including former Vice President Mike Pence, all these people have a terribly damaged worldview and they’re all after Donald Trump because they want to send people to war? Is that really your argument?” Tapper said.

“Absolutely, that’s my argument, Jake,” Vance said.

Another former Trump administration official, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, said Trump is “the most dangerous person to this country” and “a fascist through and through.” in Bob Woodward’s new book“War.”

Vance rejected the idea that these are conservative Republicans concerned about a second Trump presidency.

“All these people, Jake, came into power thinking they could control Donald Trump when he said he wanted peace in the world,” Vance said.

“Mike Pence thought he could control Donald Trump? Really?” said Tapper.

“Yes, he did. And when he found out he couldn’t do that, they all turned on Donald Trump,” Vance said.

In a previous one interview with CNN’s Dana Bash During his own presidential run, Pence said Trump asked him to break his oath to the Constitution.

Vance tries to sand off his edges

Vance, who faced backlash for his previous comments about “childless cat ladies” and more recently for pushing false claims about Haitian migrants who ate pets in Springfield, Ohio, again tried to round his own corners – as he did in his recent debate with Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz.

“Whether you’re in a blue state or a red state, whether you’re going to vote for Trump or whether you’re going to vote for Harris, I want you to be able to live a good life in this country,” Vance said. . “But that’s not going to happen with the broken leadership in Washington, DC.”

He also retreated from the populist rhetoric that made him a favorite of some anti-establishment right-wing parties, blaming both parties for the country’s “decline.”

‘There are many people who have become rich and powerful because of the American decline. Some of them have an R next to their names. Some of them have a D next to their name,” Vance said. “And the first person who I think really puts the interests of the American people first is Donald J. Trump.”

Vance has been trying to show a more personal side of the trail lately and promote a message of unity. On Friday, he told a crowd in Raeford, North Carolina, that he and his wife have “lost some friends” since he became a vice presidential candidate, and urged people not to forfeit friendships because of politics.

And on Thursday, Vance advised at a NewsNation town hall in Michigan: “Whether you vote for me, whether you vote for Donald Trump, whether you vote for Kamala Harris, don’t put aside your family members and lifelong friendships. The politics are not worth it.”

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