Vance thinks everyone should calm down regarding Trump’s “enemy within” comments.Calvin Stewart/ZUMA

on a sunday During the morning media blitz, vice presidential candidate Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) sought to clear up former President Donald Trump’s disturbing comments that his domestic political rivals were the “enemy within.”

In interviews with CNN’s Jake Tapper And NBC’s Kristen WelkerVance has tried to downplay, ignore and replace Trump’s views. Repeated characterizations We see Democrats as “bad,” “dangerous,” and the “enemy.”

Trump has made such comments repeatedly. At the beginning of this month he said “We have an enemy without, we have an enemy from within, and I think the enemy within is more dangerous than China and Russia and all of these countries,” Fox host Maria Bartiromo said. Trump added that he considers California Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Representative Adam Schiff among these enemies. Trump in a podcast interview with Joe Rogan on Friday in question The “enemy within” was more dangerous than North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

Tapper, CNN anchor State of the UnionHe pressed Vance about these comments from the very beginning of the interview, and John Kelly also characterization Trump was revealed this week to be a fascist who admires Hitler. Vance said Kelly’s comments about Trump were wrong. “I believe Donald Trump is the candidate for peace,” Vance said at one point. Later in the interview, Vance said Trump reserved the threat to send in the military after “people rioting after the election” rather than sending it in. All Americans.

At another point, Tapper told Vance that Trump shared A social media post saying Liz Cheney is now on the Republican side to campaign His opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, must be brought to war court. “Doesn’t any of this sound fascist to you?” Tapper asked. “No, of course not,” Vance responded, before claiming Tapper took Trump’s statements out of context.

.@jaketapper: “(Trump) said Liz Cheney should be put on war tribunal. Doesn’t any of this sound fascist to you?”@JDVance: “No, of course not.” pic.twitter.com/3YuiEI3MGH

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

Welker, NBC Meet the Press, he asked Even though Vance agreed with Trump that Pelosi and Schiff were “more dangerous than Russia and China,” he refrained. “I think what Donald Trump is saying is that this nation poses a greater threat to the peace and security of the United States because America is strong enough to withstand any foreign enemy,” Vance replied.

In his interview with Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan offered a slightly clearer answer. While Brennan didn’t specifically ask for his reaction to Trump’s comments about the “enemy within,” he asked Vance, referring to Friday, “How much should Moscow pay for trying to manipulate American voters?” he asked. announcement The FBI claimed that Russia was behind the 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’re doing,” Vance replied. After Brennan pressed him, Vance condemned Russia’s actions but said he would not commit to how the United States should or would respond.

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