One could argue the same approach is appropriate regarding Trump’s off-the-cuff comment Tuesday that, if President Hillary Clinton begins appointing nominees for the U.S. Supreme Court, there’s little anyone can do about it – with the possible exception of “Second Amendment people”. When he suggested that “The Second Amendment People” can stop Hillary Clinton he crossed a line with unsafe potential. These are Donald Trump’s own words, and as Hillary Clinton said in Iowa, words matter.
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The anti-Trump folks said his comment was a call to violence against Clinton, tapping that unfortunate stereotype that every pro-gun person secretly wants to shoot those with whom they disagree. His casual cruelty to a Gold Star family, his casual suggestion that more countries should have nuclear weapons.
But lawmakers, former national security officials and other critics expressed concern that he had advocated violence, possibly in jest, against Clinton or her Supreme Court nominees.
At a rally in Des Moines Wednesday, Clinton said the remarks were a “casual inciting of violence” that show he lacks the temperament to be commander-in-chief. “Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know”, he continued.
The Republican nominee suggested her liberal nominations would threaten gun ownership rights when he said: “Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment”.
But Trump’s remark at a Tuesday rally about gun rights activists sparked a torrent of criticism on social media that he was effectively calling for Clinton’s assassination. Other top Republicans, including Senator Susan Collins of ME this week, have disavowed Trump but said they can not back Clinton, either. Trump’s campaign said the comment was misinterpreted and that he was encouraging gun activists to use their political power.
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In the last few weeks alone, Trump has drawn scorn for insulting Gold Star parents, encouraging Russian hackers to find Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails and suggesting that the USA shouldn’t uphold its NATO obligations unless its allies under the critical treaty pay their fair share of costs.
