Asked whether Trump was suggesting violence, Pence said, “of course not, no. Donald Trump is urging people around this country to act in a manner consistent with their convictions in the course of this election, and people who cherish the Second Amendment have a very clear choice in this election”.
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“What he meant by that was you have the power to vote against her”, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said late on Tuesday when introducing Trump at another rally.
After playing a clip of Trump’s comments, Hannity said to him: “So, obviously you are saying that there’s a strong political movement within the second amendment, and if people mobilise and vote they can stop Hillary from having this impact on the court”. And, he referred to my hands – ‘If they’re small, something else must be small.’ I guarantee you there’s no problem. As The Intercept pointed out in January: “Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump has campaigned as an ardent advocate of expanding gun rights, but in the past he called for banning assault weapons and a longer waiting period for gun purchases”. “A person seeking to be the president of the United States should not suggest violence in any way”.
In other words, here’s the answer I want you to give.
After Trump’s remarks about the Second Amendment this week, his campaign released a statement titled “Trump Campaign Statement on Dishonest Media”. One of Trump’s closest friends and most constant advisers has said nearly the exact same thing as Baldasaro.
But Mr Trump’s foes were unconvinced and unforgiving. In 1999, as seen in this amusing video posted by Boing Boing, Trump even said in an interview that “the Republicans are just too insane right”.
The week of the convention itself, Al Baldasaro, a Trump delegate and adviser to the campaign on veterans’ issues said in a radio interview, “Hillary Clinton should be put in the firing line and shot for treason”.
Trump faced backlash from media outlets that interpreted the statement as calling for violence against a candidate for the presidency. “If Donald Trump was going to say something like that, he’d say something like that”.
“Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, tweeted: “@realDonaldTrump makes death threats because he’s a pathetic coward who can’t handle the fact that he’s losing to a girl”. A generic Republican would have been a major upgrade over Trump earlier in the campaign; less than 100 days from Election Day, the sheer volatility involved in introducing a new variable into the campaign might scare people off. It also underscored the concern, voiced by many anxious Republicans, that he can not stay disciplined and avoid inflammatory remarks that imperil not only his White House prospects but the re-election chances of many Republican lawmakers.
At a press conference in Wisconsin on Tuesday night, after beating his heavily pro-Trump opponent by close to 70 points, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said that while he had not heard the comments, what he did hear sounded like a bad joke. But I’ll tell you what: “that will be a awful day”. “You never joke about something like that”.
Trump was talking about energy bills at the Wilmington, N.C., event when he steered toward gun rights.
Trump has dismissed the defections and criticism by Republicans as an unsurprising reaction of the so-called Washington elite to his drive to change the status quo.
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His comment assumed she’d already been elected.
