The appearance at a rally in Wilmington, N.C., renewed Republican fears that Trump can’t be prevented from sabotaging himself. The GOP’s nominee told rally attendees that if Clinton is elected and is able to pick Supreme Court judges, there’s “nothing you can do, folks”.
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Then he added: “Although the Second Amendment people – maybe there is, I don’t know”.
The remark referencing the constitutional right to bear arms, drew swift and bipartisan condemnation.
The U.S. Secret Service, responsible for both Clinton’s and Trump’s protection, said it was aware of what Trump had said but declined to say whether it planned to investigate.
But it was already too late: CNN, which had devoted much of the morning to a negative Clinton story, after weeks of picking apart Trump errors, quickly bailed out on the Democrat’s toxic endorsement from homophobic terror-dad Seddique Mateen to instead talk about Trump and his “Second Amendment” comment. “They have tremendous political power”.
Liberal grass roots organization MoveOn.org called on every Republican up and down the ballot to repudiate Trump over his remark. “But I’ll tell you what, that will be a frightful day”.
Before the remark, Trump had been emphasizing his case against Clinton, who is leading in national opinion polls in the race for the November 8 election. Giuliani insisted Trump told voters “you have the power to do something about it”, meaning that his supporters “have the power to vote against” and “campaign against” Clinton.
Retired four-star general Barry McCaffrey also spoke out against Trump, declaring him unfit for the Oval Office and saying it was “remarkable how little he knows” about national security. “You have the power to speak against her. Why can’t he stop saying stupid things?” said James Harris, a Missouri Republican political strategist. “I mean, give me a break”.
“This isn’t play. Unstable people with powerful guns and an unhinged hatred for Hillary are listening to you”.
Indeed, Democratic groups on Tuesday used Trump’s comments to attack Republicans. Progress NC Action, for example, pushed North Carolina Gov.
But will Trump’s “Second Amendment” remarks backfire politically? “It’s an assassination threat, seriously upping the possibility of a national tragedy and crisis”, Murphy said.
Norman Ornstein, a resident scholar at the center-right American Enterprise Institute, called Trump’s comments “a reckless statement from a reckless maniac”.
“But the good people will say, “oh, well, that’s the law”.
Clinton’s campaign decried Trump’s “dangerous” language and demanded in a statement that presidential hopefuls “not suggest violence in any way”.
“It’s called the power of unification – 2nd Amendment people have awesome spirit and are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power”, Miller said in the statement.
A new Quinnipiac University swing state poll found Donald Trump is in a “virtual likely voter tie” with Hillary Clinton in Florida and is slightly trailing her in Ohio.
The Democratic nominee’s campaign director, Robby Mook, reacted in a statement saying that “This is simple – what Trump is saying is risky”.
“A person seeking to be the president of the United States should not suggest violence in any way”, it said.
In another tweet, the NRA sided with Trump’s campaign statement.
Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, campaigning with Trump on Tuesday in Fayetteville, North Carolina, slammed the media and the Clinton campaign.
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She portrayed Trump as a candidate “who will slash and burn and trample anything and anyone he perceives as being in his way or an easy scapegoat”.
