Some 50 Republican former national security officials signed an open letter calling Trump the most reckless candidate in history, prompting a counterattack from Trump, who said the signers share blame with Clinton for making the world “a mess” and aiding the Islamic State group’s formation.
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“This is simple – what Trump is saying is risky”, Mook said in a statement. “A person seeking to the be President of the United States should not suggest violence in any way”. In a speech in North Carolina this afternoon, Trump thought of a little throwaway comment, maybe an offhand thing, and kicked it around for maybe a second or two before deciding – why the hell not? – to just say it.
“It’s called the power of unification – 2nd Amendment people have incredible spirit and are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power”, Jason Miller, a top Trump aide, said in the statement. The Trump campaign said he was actually referring to political power, urging them to vote in record numbers.
“This individual wasn’t invited as a guest, and the campaign was unaware of his attendance until after the event”, the Clinton campaign said in an email to reporters. She declined to answer any additional questions about Trump’s remarks.
“This is a strong powerful movement, the Second Amendment”, Trump said.
Mrs Clinton’s campaign decried Mr Trump’s “dangerous” language and demanded in a statement that presidential hopefuls “not suggest violence in any way”.
Clinton’s steady rise in the polls since the Democratic convention has solidified into a 7.5-point lead in the Real Clear Politics average – twice the margin enjoyed by Barack Obama over John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney at 2012 at roughly the same point in the cycle.
Connecticut Democrat Senator Chris Murphy took to Twitter and wrote, “This isn’t play”.
Then the NRA did their usual outrageous – and incorrect – claim that Hillary will take away everyone’s guns and that she will “leave you defenseless”.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the liberal Democrat who has tangled frequently with Trump online, said on Twitter that Trump “makes death threats because he’s a pathetic coward who can’t handle the fact that he’s losing to a girl”.
Trump, who has been endorsed by the National Rifle Association, re-tweeted the gun rights’ group, which said Trump “is right”. “Their initial tweet read “@RealDonaldTrump is right.
“An out-of-touch hypocrite, she’d leave you defenseless”, the 30-second ad, which will air on cable in battleground states, says as it wraps up. “But there IS something we will do on #ElectionDay: Show up and vote for the #2A!”
If this happens, the recriminations on the Republican side will be epic, and the “anger” unleashed by Trump and his supporters – anger we’ve all been told we must respect and understand – will be unleashed right back upon them, threefold.
Trump has repeatedly suggested that Clinton will “abolish” the Second Amendment.
While I don’t believe Trump meant to seriously suggest that violence was a possible way of stopping her, it is the height of absurdity for conservatives to suggest that he wasn’t, at least jokingly, referring to the use of guns.
“If Trump were not a major-party presidential nominee, his comment yesterday might have earned him a stern visit from the Secret Service”. Later on Tuesday night, Trump accused the media of trying to “distract” from what he called “Clinton’s [anti-2nd Amendment] stance”.
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Lemire reported from NY.
