Problems ’caused by broken leadership’ are more important than ‘any external threat’

Vice presidential candidate Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) defended former President Trump’s comments suggesting using military force on Election Day to fight the “enemy within” V NBC News interview published on Saturday.

“Well, I think what Donald Trump said is that these people are a great threat to the peace and security of the United States because America is strong enough to take on any foreign adversary,” Vance told Meet the Press host Kristen Welker.

“He said, and I agree, that our biggest threat is not a foreign adversary because we can handle these guys; we can handle external conflicts,” Vance added, before singling out former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D).

“During Nancy Pelosi’s long life as a public leader, the United States has gone from the world’s preeminent industrial power to second only to China,” Vance said.

His criticism of the California representative signals a larger struggle between the Republican and Democratic parties to ensure minimal campaigning in the final days before the general election.

“Essentially, this rests on the shoulders of Nancy Pelosi, and if we want our country to be more prosperous, we must recognize that our leadership is the reason we lost our industrial base to China,” Vance said.

Pelosi has publicly shared her own criticism of the senator, including recently questioning his comments revealing personal connection to reproductive rights during the vice presidential debate.

Trump has faced intense scrutiny as he said in an interview with Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo that the greater threat to the country than foreign adversaries are “the people from within.” He added that any unrest from his critics after the election “should be very easily handled, if necessary by the National Guard, and if really necessary by the military, because they cannot allow that.”

Trump since then doubled down on my comments despite the criticism.

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