Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump suggested on Tuesday that gun rights activists could act to stop Democratic rival Hillary Clinton from nominating liberal U.S. Supreme Court justices, igniting yet another firestorm of criticism just as he sought to steer clear of controversy.
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But then Trump drew attention away from his message with his “Second Amendment” remarks. But he’s also on defense over these words from yesterday about Hillary Clinton and gun rights. “She wants to leave you unprotected in your home”. But on Fox News, hosts and commentators directed their attention to the reaction of the rest of the media. I mean, give me break. The campaign has repeatedly said he was referring to gun advocates’ political power, and that the media is purposely misinterpreting the quip. “He is not a person like you who’s very articulate, very well spoken”. Tomorrow, Trump heads south to Florida; Clinton goes north to MI. “If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks”.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said that “it sounds like” GOP nominee Donald Trump’s controversial remarks about “Second Amendment people” stopping Hillary Clinton was simply a “joke gone bad”.
“He’s kind of like a 7th grade bully, but I think that’s not fair to 7th grade bullies”, he said. “That will be a awful day”.
Clinton’s campaign manager responded with this: “This is simple – what Trump is saying is unsafe”. And there are few things so powerful, I have to say, in terms of politics.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D) of CT, a prominent advocate of gun-control since the 2012 shooting of a Newtown elementary school, wrote on Twitter that the comments were an “assassination threat”, not a “political misstep”.
AMY GOODMAN: Chemi Shalev, the USA editor of Israeli Haaretz, tweeted, quote, “People who remember the incitement that led to Rabin’s assassination will find Trump’s rhetoric hauntingly familiar”. But I’m done trying to project civility and meaning on a guy who clearly has neither.
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“You should never joke about something like that”, he said. Those who were aware of it agreed that Trump was calling for gun-rights supporters to express their views at the ballot box, not to take up arms against their political opponents.
