The U.S. Secret Service reached out to the Donald Trump campaign over comments he made at a rally Tuesday about “Second Amendment people”, according to a report on CNN.
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Democrats – including Clinton – quickly accused Trump of suggesting violence against the Democratic nominee.
Donald Trump, a stubby-handed narcissist who appears to be losing a contest quite badly, just suggested that “2nd Amendment people” might be able to “do” something to prevent Hillary Clinton from picking Supreme Court justices, should Clinton be elected as president.
“Hillary wants to abolish, essentially, the Second Amendment”, he said.
“By the way, and if she gets the pick – if she gets the pick of her judges, nothing you can do, folks”.
Trump said the people who signed that letter are responsible for why “the world is a mess”. The amendment preserves the right of citizens to keep and bear arms.
Trump’s comments were widely criticized on social media for using a hateful rhetoric and praising violence.
The campaign said that Trump was saying that Second Amendment people will turn out to vote in record numbers. Trump’s campaign also insisted that his words had been misunderstood.
“Hillary Clinton supports common sense measures like comprehensive background checks that will help decrease the number of gun deaths our nation suffers every day”, the statement said.
Trump’s vice presidential running mate, Mike Pence, asked if he believed Trump was inciting violence towards Clinton, told NBC’s Philadelphia affiliate: “Of course not. No”.
Like so many times before, Trump’s supporters and opponents construed his comments in entirely different ways.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, who was celebrating a primary victory in Wisconsin Tuesday night, said: “It sounds like just a joke gone bad”. Interviewed by Fox News’ Sean Hannity, he said everyone in his audience knew he was referring to the power of voters and “there can be no other interpretation”.
But the Clinton campaign said Trump was suggesting violence. “Hillary wants to take your guns away”.
Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway fought back in a tweet of her own, calling Warren a “disgrace”.
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The republican nominee had signalled “Second Amendment people” – advocates of the United States constitutional right to bear arms – may take action against Clinton if she wins the Presidential election. In the past few weeks alone, Trump has managed to shock us further and better than even the shock jocks of the ’90s (and they were pretty damn shocking).
