But the Clinton campaign considered Trump’s comment more ominous.
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Speaking at a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, earlier Tuesday, GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump suggested to his followers that assassination by gun may be the only way to prevent Clinton from choosing judges for the Supreme Court if she becomes president.
Hillary Clinton has widened her lead over Donald Trump in Wisconsin, a virtual must-win state for the Republican, and now outpaces him by 15 points among likely voters, the state’s leading poll has found.
The controversy came as the campaign tried to stay on message after a contentious previous week.
So honestly, at this point, it’s starting to seem more and more like Donald Trump is just doing everything and anything he can think of to get out of actually having to be president.
The Secret Service said it was “aware of the comments” but did not say whether they merited an investigation, which some Democratic lawmakers have called for.
Clinton’s campaign now has a website for Republicans and political independents to sign up to pledge their support, listing 50 prominent Republicans and independents who have endorsed her.
The ads, running on broadcast and cable stations, say Clinton “doesn’t believe in your right to keep a gun at home for self-defense”. Also last week, 40% of Sanders supporters said they were upset that Clinton was the nominee.
“What he intended is very, very simple – that (gun owners) should vote against her”, Giuliani said on ABC’s Good Morning America. Obviously it’s not a trade-off that leaves everyone happy, but it provides the bedrock of legitimacy for an elected regime and reinforces the idea that the proper means for transferring political power is through democratic elections.
Silver is more cautious: “Clinton is polling really well right now, and if you held an election today, she’d probably win in a landslide, possibly including states such as Georgia and Arizona along with most or all of the traditional swing states”.
After his comments were judged by many as courting violence, the Clinton team pounced by announcing a new “outreach to the growing number of Republicans and independents” who are prepared to vote for the former secretary of state on November 8. “To think that joking about any kind of violence could be amusing. simply reflects a disregard for the impact of violence”.
Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm agreed, telling Cuomo that joking about assassinating a candidate is not presidential. “I don’t like her”, said Smith, a 74-year-old retiree who lives in Clearwater, Florida.
Bernice King, the daughter of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., took to Twitter to voice her concerns. “It wasn’t even close in my mind and it’s obviously exceedingly inappropriate and the fact that the Secret Service had to comment on it I think is indication enough that that was way outside the boundaries of what’s considered acceptable in this country”.
Chris Edelson is an assistant professor of government in American University’s School of Public Affairs. This is no longer about policy, civility, decency or even temperament. CNN did not report whether the questions were raised to Trump himself.
Other top Republicans, including Senator Susan Collins of ME this week, have disavowed Trump but said they can not back Clinton.
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The story is being updated.
