Trump calls radical-left 'enemy within'

Matthew Medsger, Boston Herald on Oct 13, 2024

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After this upcoming election, the U.S. will be facing a bigger electoral security threat from ‘radical-left lunatics’ than that posed by foreign actors, even those found on the terrorist watch list or who might be accused murderers or rapists, according to former president Donald Trump.

The danger we face is already lurking among us, the Republican nominee said.

“The bigger problem is the enemy from within,” Trump said.

Asked to consider what effect “outside agitators” might have on the peaceful transfer of power should he win — and given the examples of 50,000 recently arrived Chinese nationals, the apprehension of hundreds of suspected terrorists by border agents, and presence of tens of thousands of apparently immigrants in the U.S. — Trump told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo in an interview aired Sunday that he doesn’t “think they’re the problem, in terms of election day.”

You also won’t see any issues from “the side that votes for Trump” on or after November 5, the former president said.

“The bigger problem is the people from within. We have some very bad people, we have some sick people: radical-left lunatics,” Trump said.

The former commander-in-chief added that whatever problem these “very bad people” present between election day and inauguration should be “very easily handled, if necessary, by National Guard, or, if really necessary, by the military. Because they can’t let that happen.”

“We have the outside enemy, and then we have the enemy from within. And the enemy from within, in my opinion, is more dangerous than China, Russia, and all these countries, because if you have a smart president, he can handle them pretty easily. I handled — I got along great with all — I handled them. But the thing that’s tougher to handle are these lunatics that we have inside,” Trump said.

The Harris-Walz campaign was quick to jump on Trump’s remarks. Senior spokesperson and advisor Ian Sams issued a dire warning, saying that Trump is making clear that he sees some voters as the enemy, “and he is saying he would use the military against them.”

“Taken with his vow to be a dictator on ‘day one,’ calls for the ‘termination’ of the Constitution, and plans to surround himself with sycophants who will give him unchecked, unprecedented power if he returns to office, this should alarm every American who cares about their freedom and security. What Donald Trump is promising is dangerous, and returning him to office is simply a risk Americans cannot afford,” Sams said in a statement.

Trump’s comments come after his recent promise that, if reelected, he plans to invoke a centuries-old law which empowers the president to extrajudicially remove people aged 14 years or older from the U.S., the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, in order to begin what his campaign describes as “largest mass deportation operation in history.”

“I am announcing today that upon taking office, we will have an OPERATION AURORA at the Federal Level. To expedite removals of this savage gang, I will invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to target and dismantle every migrant criminal network operating on American Soil,” Trump said last week in social media postings, capitalization his.

Both U.S. Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Republican and Democratic vice presidential nominees, also made the Sunday show rounds this weekend.

In addition to defending Trump’s take on Aurora, Colorado, the Ohio senator refused to answer when asked several times to say if Trump lost the 2020 election, suggesting in response that the result was “rigged.”

“If we want to restore trust in American elections and democracy, which I want to do, Martha, we have to talk openly about what happened in 2020 and most importantly, we’ve got to talk about what happened afterwards,” Vance told ABC News’ Martha Raddatz.

Walz joined Fox News, when he said Trump has been targeting American cities, like Aurora, and Springfield, Ohio, for political gain. Trump even threatened, Walz said, not to send disaster assistance to states that don’t vote for him.

“This is about Donald Trump going to Detroit and saying ‘Detroit stinks.’ This is about Republicans saying ‘Minnesota’s not good.’ Donald Trump actually going so far as to say, ‘maybe I won’t give disaster aid to states that vote blue.’ Kamala Harris wants to be a president for all Americans. Kamala Harris is not going to divide states based on where they’re at,” Walz said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, during an appearance on Meet the Press, was also asked to weigh in on the upcoming election. Johnson said that Congress will do “our job” and certify the 2024 election results, even if Trump loses, but added “if the election is free and fair and legal.”

“We pray and hope that it is. There’s a lot of work being done to make sure that’s true. I think this one’s going to be so large there’ll be no question. I think Donald J. Trump is your next president, and that can’t happen soon enough,” the Louisiana congressman said.

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