Vance insists Trump’s ‘enemy from within’ comments weren’t directed at political rivals

By Kit Maher and Gregory Krieg, CNN

(CNN) — Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance insisted that Donald Trump’s attacks on “the enemy within” were not directed at Democratic Party leaders but dissenting Americans he described as “far-left lunatics” poised to riot if the former president wins in November.

Grilled by CNN’s Jake Tapper on Trump’s use of the loaded phrase, Vance defended his ticket mate, saying the former president would not unleash the military on “Americans writ large.”

“He’s said publicly that he wants to use the military to go after the enemy within, which is the American people,” Tapper said in an interview that aired Sunday on “State of the Union.”

“He did not say that, Jake,” the Ohio senator responded. “He said that he was going to send the military after the American people? Show me the quote where he said that.”

Trump earlier this month initially suggested the use of military force on Election Day to handle the “enemy from within,” referring to potential chaos sown by “radical-left lunatics.” Then, in a Fox News interview, Trump referred to California Rep. Adam Schiff and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as “an enemy from within.” Most recently, appearing on a podcast with Joe Rogan on Friday, Trump said “the enemy within” – Americans with differing politics – pose a greater threat to the US than nuclear-armed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The former president has been speaking in more stark, threatening terms as the campaign enters its final days. His claim that political rivals are traitors to the American people echoes the language of authoritarians and strongmen around the world. Vance, though, argued that Trump was simply misunderstood.

“He said that he wanted to use the military to go after far-left lunatics who are rioting, and … he also called them ‘the enemy within.’ He separately, in a totally different context, in a totally different conversation, said that Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff were threats to this country,” Vance said, echoing a script other Republicans have stuck to when asked similar questions.

“What he’s talking about is marauding gangs,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told Tapper last week when asked about Trump’s comments.

Like Vance did, Johnson – even after being confronted with Trump’s singling out of Pelosi and Schiff – said the former president was not talking about using the military on political opponents.

“I did not hear President Trump in that clip say he’s going to sic the military on Adam Schiff. That’s not what he’s saying,” the Louisiana Republican said. “You got two different clips in two different contexts.”

The week before, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, also speaking to Tapper, said Trump was not talking about political opponents.

“I guess what I want to just make very clear is that it’s my belief that what former President Trump is talking about are the people that are coming over the border, that, in fact, are committing crimes, that are bringing drugs, that are trafficking humans and that are turning every state into a border state,” the Republican governor said.

There has been no known, credible threat from American leftists – many of whom have soured on Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris – relating to post-election violence or “riots.”

Taking on the GOP Trump critics

In his interview, Vance also pushed back hard against what has become a favored attack from the Harris campaign, which frequently notes that a growing number of prominent former Trump administration officials have said their old boss is unfit for office.

“The people who know Donald Trump best, the people who worked with him in the White House, in the Situation Room, in the Oval Office – all Republicans, by the way – who served in his administration, his former chief of staff, his national security adviser, former secretaries of defense and his vice president, have all called him unfit and dangerous,” Harris said at a CNN town hall last week.

Vance claimed those former administration officials are targeting Trump because he rebuffed their efforts to check his behavior and push to start “ridiculous military conflicts.” The group includes Trump’s longest-serving chief of staff, John Kelly, who told The New York Times last week that the former president fits the “general definition of fascist.”

Kelly said that it was “a new concept” for Trump that the loyalty of top government officials was to the Constitution, not to the president personally, and that Trump praised Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s generals for their loyalty.

Vance then argued that Kelly’s concerns over Trump were based on policy and “not about personality.”

“No, (Kelly) agrees with Trump on most policy,” Tapper said. “He disagrees with Trump on how Trump views his role and his and the fascism and the authoritarianism.”

Vance sought to shift the terms of the discussion from Trump’s behavior to the records of Kelly and other anti-Trump conservative Republicans.

“If you actually look at John Kelly, and folks like Liz Cheney, the fundamental disagreement they have with Donald Trump is even though they say that they’re conservative, they’re conservative in the sense that they want America to get involved in a ton of ridiculous military conflicts,” Vance said.

Cheney, a former Wyoming congresswoman, and her father, former Vice President and Iraq war architect Dick Cheney, have both endorsed Harris.

At an event in Waterford, Michigan, last week, Vance described Kelly as a “disgruntled ex-employee” who was “pissed off” about being fired by Trump.

“So all those … people, including the former vice president, Mike Pence, all of these people have this horribly damaged worldview and they’re all just going after Donald Trump because they want to send people into war? That’s really your argument?” Tapper said.

“Absolutely, that’s my argument, Jake,” Vance said.

Another former Trump administration official, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, said Trump “is the most dangerous person to this country” and “a fascist to the core” in Bob Woodward’s new book, “War.”

Vance rejected the idea that these are conservative Republicans concerned about a second Trump presidency.

“All these people, Jake, they came into office thinking that they could control Donald Trump, that when he said he wanted peace in the world,” Vance said.

“Mike Pence thought he could control Donald Trump? Really?” Tapper said.

“Yes, he did. And when he found out that he couldn’t, they all turned on Donald Trump,” Vance said.

In a previous interview with CNN’s Dana Bash during his own presidential run, Pence said Trump had asked him to break his oath to the Constitution.

Vance tries to sand down his edges

Vance, who faced backlash for his prior comments about “childless cat ladies” and more recently for pushing false claims about Haitian migrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, again tried to sand down his own edges – as he did in his recent debate with Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz.

“Whether you’re in a blue state or red state, whether you’re going to vote for Trump or you’re going to vote for Harris, I want you to be able to have a good life in this country,” Vance said. “But that’s not going to happen with the broken leadership in Washington, DC.”

He also pulled from the populist rhetoric that made him a favorite with some anti-establishment right-wingers, blaming both parties for the country’s “decline.”

“There are a lot of people who have gotten rich and powerful off of American decline. Some of them have had R’s next to their name. Some of them have had D’s next to their name,” Vance said. “And the first person who I believe is really putting the interest of the American people first is Donald J. Trump.”

Vance has been trying to show a more personal side on the trail recently and to promote a message of unity. On Friday, he told a crowd in Raeford, North Carolina, that he and his wife have “lost a few friends” since he became the vice presidential nominee, and he urged people not to forfeit friendships due to politics.

And at a NewsNation town hall in Michigan on Thursday, Vance advised, “Whether you vote for me, whether you vote for Donald Trump, whether you vote for Kamala Harris, don’t cast aside family members and lifelong friendships. Politics is not worth it.”

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