In ‘Media Blitz’, Vance Covers Trump’s ‘Fascist’ Threats – Mother Jones

Vance thinks everyone should relax about Trump’s “enemy within” comments.Calvin Stewart/ZUMA

On Sunday In a morning news conference, vice presidential candidate Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) attempted to clear up former President Donald Trump’s troubling comments about his domestic political opponents being the “enemy within.”

In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper And NBC’s Kristen WelkerVance tried to downplay, dismiss and reverse Trump’s position. repeating characteristics Democrats as “evil”, “dangerous” and “enemies”.

Trump has made similar comments repeatedly. Earlier this month he said Fox host Maria Bartiromo: “We have an external enemy, and we also have an internal enemy – and the internal enemy, in my opinion, is more dangerous than China, Russia and all these countries.” Trump added that he counts California Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Adam Schiff among those enemies. And in Friday’s podcast interview with Joe Rogan, Trump said The “enemy from within” was more dangerous than North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.

Tapper, CNN anchor State of the Unioninsisted on these comments from Vance from the very beginning of the interview, as well as on statements from John Kelly. characteristic this week, Trump as a fascist who admires Hitler. Vance said Kelly’s comments about Trump were inaccurate. At one point, Vance said, “I believe Donald Trump is the candidate for peace.” Later in the interview, Vance said Trump was saving his threats to send in the army after “people riot after the election” rather than All Americans.

At another point, Tapper reminded Vance that Trump general social media post saying Liz Cheney is now a Republican agitation his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, is due to face a military tribunal. “Doesn’t all this seem fascist to you at all?” – asked Tapper. “No, of course not,” Vance replied, before claiming that Tapper had taken Trump’s statements out of context.

.@jaketapper: “Liz Cheney, (Trump) said, should be court-martialed. Doesn’t any of this seem fascist to you?”@JDVance: “No, of course not.” pic.twitter.com/3YuiEI3MGH

— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) October 27, 2024

When NBC’s Welker Meet the press, asked If Vance agreed with Trump that Pelosi and Schiff are “more dangerous than Russia and China,” he dodged it. “Well, I think what Donald Trump said is that these people pose a great threat to the peace and security of the United States because America is strong enough to withstand any foreign adversary,” Vance responded.

In his interview with the publication Facing the nation host Margaret Brennan, he gave a slightly clearer answer. While she didn’t specifically ask about his response to Trump’s “enemy within” comments, Brennan did ask Vance, “What price should Moscow pay for trying to manipulate American voters?” — referring to Friday’s incident. announcement The FBI said Russia was behind a fake video of mail-in ballots being destroyed in Pennsylvania.

“Many countries will try to manipulate our voters. They will try to manipulate our elections. That’s what they do,” Vance replied. After being pressed by Brennan, Vance condemned Russia’s actions but said he disagreed with how the US should or would respond.

How my colleague Inae Oh and I trackedTrump has indeed threatened to prosecute or called for prosecution of a long list of political opponents, including Harris. CheneyPresident Joe Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama and countless others. So, contrary to Vance’s claims, Trump has given us ample reason to take his threats seriously.