J.D. Vance tries to whitewash Trump’s ‘enemy within’ threat

Republican Vice Presidential Candidate JD Vance insisted that Donald TrumpRussia’s threats to send in the army after the “enemy within” were not directed against Democrats but rather “far-left people who commit acts of violence”, skimming the GOP presidential candidate’s own words on the topic.

“Donald Trump never said that Americans play a big role. You keep putting words in his mouth,” Vance said in the interview, which aired Sunday. CNN“State of the Union” with host Jake Tapper.

“He has publicly stated that he wants to use the military to go after the domestic enemy, which is the American people,” Tapper responded.

Trump made no effort to qualify his remarks about the “enemy within.” Earlier this month he said Fox NewsMaria Bartiromo responded that “the bigger problem is the enemy from within” when asked whether the American public should be concerned about potential violence from “outside agitators” on Election Day.

“We have very bad people, we have sick people, left-wing radical lunatics,” Trump told Bartiromo. “And it should be very easy to handle, if necessary, by the National Guard or, if truly necessary, by the military.”

In a separate interviewTrump doubled down and included top California Democrats such as the former House speaker. Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Adam Schiff on the panel.

“These are bad people. We have a lot of bad people,” Trump said on Fox News Channel’s “Media Buzz.” “But when you look at Dodgy Schiff and some of the others, yes, they are the enemy from within for me. I think Nancy Pelosi is the enemy from within.”

But Vance continued to downplay Trump’s comments during his CNN interview, arguing that the former president’s threat to go after the country’s “domestic enemy” did not necessarily mean the military was involved.

– He didn’t say that, Jake. He said he was going to send the army against the American people? Show me the quote where he said that,” Vance said.

Tapper then read him a quote from Trump’s interview on Friday. with podcaster Joe Roganwhere 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 some really bad people who I think really want to make this country a failure.”

Watch Vance’s conversation with Tapper below: