Firestorm as Trump says gun-rights backers can stop Clinton
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump applauds during a campaign rally at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016, in Wilmington, N.C.
WILMINGTON, N.C. >> Donald Trump said Tuesday that Second Amendment advocates might find a way to stop Hillary Clinton from rolling back gun rights if she’s elected, setting off a political firestorm as Democrats quickly accused him of encouraging violence against his opponent.
Speaking at a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, the Republican nominee said incorrectly his general election opponent wants to “abolish, essentially, the Second Amendment.”
He continued: “By the way, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know.”
Trump did not elaborate on his meaning. But within minutes, Clinton’s campaign and an outside group backing her candidacy denounced the celebrity businessman’s remarks as an attempt to incite violence.
“This is simple — what Trump is saying is dangerous,” said Robby Mook, Clinton’s campaign manager. “A person seeking to be the president of the United States should not suggest violence in any way.”
The pro-Clinton group Priorities USA blasted out an email with the subject line: “Donald Trump Just Suggested That Someone Shoot Hillary Clinton.”
The Trump campaign was equally quick to dispute that interpretation of his remarks, saying he was simply touting the “amazing spirit” of Second Amendment supporters.
“It’s called the power of unification – Second Amendment people have amazing spirit and are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power,” said Jason Miller, Trump’s senior communications adviser. “And this year, they will be voting in record numbers, and it won’t be for Hillary Clinton, it will be for Donald Trump.”
Catherine Milhoan, a spokeswoman for the Secret Service, said: “We are aware of his comments.” She declined to answer any additional questions about Trump’s remarks.
The Second Amendment provides a constitutional right to citizens to own firearms. Clinton supports some new restrictions on gun ownership, but does not advocate overturning the amendment.
Trump’s remarks immediately set off a firestorm of criticism on social media and threatened to upstage discussion of his economic policy speech the day before and his swing through the key battleground state of North Carolina.
Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat and a leading advocate for stronger gun safety laws, called Trump’s comments “disgusting and embarrassing and sad.”
“This isn’t play,” Murphy wrote on Twitter. “Unstable people with powerful guns and an unhinged hatred for Hillary are listening to you, realDonaldTrump.”
The National Rifle Association, the powerful pro-gun lobby that has endorsed Trump, posted a pair of tweets in support of the Republican nominee.
One read: “RealDonaldTrump is right. If HillaryClinton gets to pick her anti-#2A #SCOTUS judges, there’s nothing we can do. #NeverHillary.”
The second read: “But there IS something we will do on #ElectionDay: Show up and vote for the #2A! #DefendtheSecond #NeverHillary.”
But even some Trump supporters appeared taken aback by the nominee’s comments. A video of the rally shows a man seated behind Trump open his mouth in disbelief and turn to his companion with a puzzled look on his face after Trump made the remark.
Trump’s comments came a few weeks after one of his campaign advisers said “Hillary Clinton should be put in the firing line and shot for treason.”
The Secret Service is investigating those remarks, made last month by Al Baldasaro, a New Hampshire state lawmaker and an adviser to Trump on veterans’ issues. Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said then that neither Trump nor his campaign agree with Baldasaro’s comments.
Trump’s comments Tuesday were reminiscent of the “Second Amendment remedies” floated in 2010 by Sharron Angle, a Nevada Senate candidate who was criticized for seeming to allude to a call for violence.
36 responses to “Firestorm as Trump says gun-rights backers can stop Clinton”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Michael Hayden, the ex-director of the National Security Agency and former head of the CIA, criticized Trump, saying if someone “outside of the hall” said the same thing, that person would “be in the back of a police wagon now, with the Secret Service questioning him.”
General Hayden is correct. Mr. Trump should be in a psychiatric hospital.
His supporters should all be ashamed of themselves. Every one of them.
They aren’t, of course. Because they appear to be incapable of shame. It’s a national disgrace.
Trump’s supporters are racists, under-educated, and/or losers who admire him for dating former models. They are incapable of clear thought. Fortunately, they are a minority of the US population—but barely.
You’re correct. Mr. Trump definitely has the white supremacist imbecile failure vote completely wrapped up. Just read the comments here.
Mrs. Clinton needs to just write off that group.
Yesterday, Eugene Robinson wrote in the Washington Post, “It may be hard to imagine, but I fear this election campaign is going to get worse — maybe a lot worse — before it gets better. By the time it’s done, the whole nation may feel like it needs a shower.” It didn’t take long for his prediction to come true.
This is going to go on for another 3+ months. It’s the GOP’ fault that we need to live in fear that the guy might get elected President of the United States.
Trump knows how to push peoples button to get them all wild up. He must be enjoying this inside.
Of course he’s enjoying it. He is a psychotic. What’s not to enjoy?
Mr. Trump is a violent psychotic. He should be in the custody of the Secret Service right now, or in a psychiatric hospital.
The thought of losing in the spectacular landslide that he’s heading towards may be simply too much for him to take.
Trump supporters should all be ashamed of themselves. All of them.
The good news continues for Trump–The best news for Clinton is in Pennsylvania, where a variety of post-convention surveys, including the two released on Tuesday, show her ahead by around 9 percentage points. Our polls-only model now projects Clinton to win Pennsylvania by 8.5 percentage points, making it just a pinch bluer than the national average. (Polls-only has Clinton winning the national popular vote by 8.0 percentage points.)
only a deranged democrat fear monger could interpret trump’s call for gun owners to get out and vote as something violent.
just goes to show one how far divorced from the truth the core gruber voters are while the female felon’s own brown shirts are sending out their emailed marching orders to disrupt peaceful trump rallies.
Nice try. No at least this time Chump tried to be more crafty and not come outright and say something profoundly outrageous. You Chumpsters can take some solace in that. he was not talking about No the Chumpster was putting on his act in front of the true believers. He was thinking how clever he was. Yep if Clinton had made a similar remark you Chumpsters would be all over it so stop the self denial. Your candidate is a nut case and even more mainstream Republicans will head to the door. Yep all those Republican senate candidates must be wondering why is he saying nonsense line this all it does is make it harder for the Repubs to hold onto the Senate.
Libs are trying to distract from Omar Mateen’s father, (the muslim terrorist who gunned down almost 49 Americans in an Orlando LGBT nightclub), not only attending hiLIARy’s rally but having a choice seat right behind of her in full view of of the media. And that pesky other issue…about her health problems.
What medical school did you attend? Now, remember you can’t mail away for one or go to community college for that puppy.
Get informed please.
I got a triple board certified physician from John Hopkins at home….what you got–Web MD?
@ ike….whatever you claim 🙂
Hey Ike I didn’t know you were under doctor’s care. Is it just day care or 24/7? Hope it’s not too serious.
seddique mateen hosts the durandj irga show. the show is known for “its anti-u.s. tirades” and “pro-taliban” remarks. mateen speaks favorably about the taliban: “Our brothers in Waziristan, our warrior brothers in Taliban movement and national Afghan Taliban are rising up,” he says.
the female felon invited mateen to her orlando rally and he was given prime seating behind the female felon’s podium so highlight the esteem the democrats have for mateen.
perhaps this is a result of one of the female felon’s “short circuiting” phases of her confusion and fatigue.
You’re lying of course. As your always do. Always.
Why would you fabricate and write down that Mr. Mateen was invited by Mrs. Clinton?
I did not realize how sensitive the a hole Democrats are. This is a free Country and Mr. Trump has his First Amendment Rights. It seems to me the Democrats are the ones who are in violation. Mr. Kahn should have asked Obama and crooked Hilliary if they understood the Constitution. For the last 8 years they have been racist, preferring Black rights over White’s.
Prediction: At some point, Mike Pence will withdraw his name from Trump’s campaign. Any Republican with sense will distance themselves from Trump. The GOP will take its loss, maybe can try to reconfigure once the Trump circus goes away.
I agree. Mr. Pence is not going to allow his lifetime of service get enveloped by the spreading sewage stain of Trump.
Question for bsdetection and Ikefromeli? Are Senator Collins and Carly Fiorino identical twins?
I dunno they are Rs……one looks like your mom on a good day.
My aren’t we touchy. What would your classmate Eli Manning say? Just love those emails.
Watching the libs going crazy is like watching an ants nest after being stepped on lol!!
Omar Mateen’s (muslim terrorist killer, Orlando LGBT night club) father was sitting in the audience in full view behind hiLIARy during her speech the other day….where is this story? Or a story on her health….needing assistance in walking up a staircase?
Dear Trump fans, WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU???
We ok…how you doing? Hey hiLIARy fans email alert…another story just broke….I’m checking it out…see you there!
Titanic, meet iceberg.
Published today by Thomas Friedman:
People are playing with fire here, and there is no bigger flamethrower than Donald Trump. Forget politics; he is a disgusting human being. His children should be ashamed of him. I only pray that he is not simply defeated, but that he loses all 50 states so that the message goes out across the land — unambiguously, loud and clear: The likes of you should never come this way again.
Pray to who?
“Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish, the Second Amendment,” Trump said at a rally in Wilmington, N.C., on Tuesday. “By the way, and if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know.”
Of course Trump’s handlers, recognizing just how incendiary were his words, immediately denied that he was suggesting that gun owners do anything harmful toward Clinton. Oh my God, never. Trump, they insisted, was just referring to the “power of unification.” You know those Second Amendment people, they just love to get on buses and vote together.
Sign Up for the Opinion Today Newsletter
Every weekday, get thought-provoking commentary from Op-Ed columnists, The Times editorial board and contributing writers from around the world.
But that is not what he said. What he said was ambiguous — slightly menacing, but with just enough plausible deniability that, of course, he was not suggesting an assassination. Again, it’s just like the Rabin story. When I wrote about this issue back in the fall it was to urge readers to see the new movie “Rabin: The Last Day,” by the Israeli director Amos Gitai, timed for the 20th anniversary of Rabin’s assassination.
As The Times’s Isabel Kershner reported from Israel when the film was released, it “is unambiguous about the forces it holds responsible” — the extremist rabbis and militant settlers who branded Rabin a traitor, the right-wing politicians who rode the “wave of toxic incitement against Mr. Rabin as they campaigned against the Oslo accords,” and the security services that failed to heed the warnings that the incitement could get out of hand.
“Mr. Rabin is almost invisible in the first two hours of the film,” she reported. “Benjamin Netanyahu, the opposition leader at the time, is shown in now-infamous historical footage addressing a feverish right-wing rally from a balcony in Jerusalem’s Zion Square, as protesters below shouted for the death of Rabin — the ‘traitor’ — and held up photomontage posters of him dressed in an SS uniform.”
Mr. Netanyahu, now prime minister, insisted he never saw the posters or heard the curses.
I am sure that is what Trump’s supporters will say, too. But Trump knows what he is doing, and it is so dangerous in today’s world. In the last year we have seen a spate of lone-wolf acts of terrorism in America and Europe by men and women living on the fringes of society, some with petty criminal records, often with psychological problems, often described as “loners,” and almost always deeply immersed in fringe jihadist social networks that heat them up. They hear the signal in the noise. They hear the inspiration and the permission to do God’s work. They are not cooled by unfinished sentences.
After all, an informal Trump adviser on veteran affairs, Al Baldasaro, a Republican state representative from New Hampshire, already declared that Clinton should be “shot for treason” for her handling of the Benghazi terrorist attack.
During the Republican convention, with its repeated chants about Clinton of “lock her up,” a U.S.-based columnist for Israel’s Haaretz newspaper, Chemi Shalev, wrote: “Like the extreme right in Israel, many Republicans conveniently ignore the fact that words can kill. There are enough people with a tendency for violence that cannot distinguish between political stagecraft and practical exhortations to rescue the country by any available means. If anyone has doubts, they could use a short session with Yigal Amir, Yitzhak Rabin’s assassin, who was inspired by the rabid rhetoric hurled at the Israeli prime minister in the wake of the Oslo accords.”
People are playing with fire here, and there is no bigger flamethrower than Donald Trump. Forget politics; he is a disgusting human being. His children should be ashamed of him. I only pray that he is not simply defeated, but that he loses all 50 states so that the message goes out across the land — unambiguously, loud and clear: The likes of you should never come this way again.
Trump supporters/handlers are like the pooper scoopers who follow the horses in parades, trying to clean up all of the horse s___.
A conservative watchdog group on Tuesday released 296 pages of emails from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s personal server, including many exchanges that weren’t handed over to the government as part of the Democratic nominee’s archive.
The new emails, released by the group Judicial Watch, offer fresh examples of how top Clinton Foundation officials sought access to the State Department during Mrs. Clinton’s tenure. The documents were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch against the State Department. -via The Wall Street Journal