Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance insisted that Donald Trump’s threats to send the military after “the enemy within” were not directed at Democrats but rather “far-left people who commit acts of violence,” gliding over the GOP presidential nominee’s own words on the topic.
“Donald Trump never said Americans writ large. You keep on 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’s said publicly that he wants to use the military to go after the enemy within, which is the American people,” Tapper replied.
Trump has made no efforts to qualify his “enemy within” comments. Earlier this month, he told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo that “the bigger problem is the enemy from within” when asked if the American public should be worried about potential violence from “outside agitators” on Election Day.
“We have some very bad people, we have some sick people, radical left lunatics,” Trump told Bartiromo. “And it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military.”
In a separate interview, Trump doubled down and included top California Democrats like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Adam Schiff in the group.
“These are bad people. We have a lot of bad people,” Trump said on Fox News’ “Media Buzz.” “But when you look at ‘Shifty Schiff’ and some of the others, yeah, they are to me, 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, maintaining that the former president’s threat to go after the “enemy within” the country did not necessarily mean involving the military.
“He did not 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.
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Tapper then read him a quote from a Trump interview on Friday with podcaster Joe Rogan, where he also said “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 that are really bad people that I really think want to make this country unsuccessful.”
Watch Vance’s exchange with Tapper below: