WASHINGTON
Donald Trump ignited a new controversy Tuesday when he appeared to suggest that gun owners could stop Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, stepping on his latest attempt to right his foundering campaign.
The appearance at a rally in Wilmington, N.C., renewed Republican fears that Trump can’t be prevented from sabotaging himself. The GOP’s nominee told rally attendees that if Clinton is elected and is able to pick Supreme Court judges, there’s “nothing you can do, folks.” He quickly added: “Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is. I don’t know.”
The remark referencing the constitutional right to bear arms, drew swift and bipartisan condemnation. Michael Hayden, former CIA director under President George W. Bush and one of 50 national security experts who signed a letter opposing Trump, told CNN that “if anybody else had said this, they’d be out in the parking lot in a police wagon being questioned by the Secret Service.”
In fact, the Secret Service tweeted: “The Secret Service is aware of the comments made earlier this afternoon.”
August 9, 2016 ">
Trump later told Fox News Channel’s Hannity that he was merely encouraging the Second Amendment supporters to vote: “This is a tremendous political movement” and “there can be no other interpretation.
“Nobody in that room thought anything other than what you just said. ... I mean, give me a break.”
Steve Duprey, former New Hampshire Republican State Committee chairman and a current GOP committeeman, called Trump’s remarks inappropriate.
“Donald Trump is known for making his provocative, off-the-cuff statements, but it is completely inappropriate to even suggest that supporters of the Second Amendment would somehow use the right to bear arms to influence or react in any way to any nomination for any position. There are some things you should not even joke about,” Duprey said.
The worry for Republicans is that Trump’s penchant for the controversial could help cement the gap between him and Clinton in recent polls. The remarks come just a day after Trump attempted to right his campaign, delivering a sober, scripted speech on the economy — and sticking to the teleprompters, even as protesters interrupted him.
At a focus group Tuesday night in Columbus, Ohio, composed of 10 suburban women, a sought-after voting bloc in a key state this election, one undecided participant said that perhaps she was hearing Trump’s comment wrong, but, “It sounds like he’s basically saying, ‘Take her out.’ ”
Trump’s behavior since the party’s convention in July has quickened the drip-drip-drip of Republicans in recent days to publicly withhold their support. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, declared in a Washington Post piece Tuesday that she won’t vote for him.
“I don’t understand it. Why can’t he stop saying stupid things?” said James Harris, a Missouri Republican political strategist. “He needs to very quickly get his act together.”
Harris added: “It can’t always be, ‘Oh, crap, Donald Trump said’ and then fill in the blank.”
It can’t always be, ‘Oh, crap, Donald Trump said’ and then fill in the blank.
James Harris, Missouri Republican strategist
Indeed, Democratic groups on Tuesday used Trump’s comments to attack Republicans. Progress NC Action, for example, pushed North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory to disavow Trump’s comments and rescind his endorsement of the New York real-estate mogul.
“No public official should support a candidate who jokes about assassination of his political rivals, and if the governor has any respect for his office or his state he should immediately rescind his support for Donald Trump,” Gerrick Brenner, Progress NC Action’s executive director said in a statement.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., one of the leading gun control advocates on Capitol Hill, cautioned against treating Trump’s remarks as a “political misstep.”
“It’s an assassination threat, seriously upping the possibility of a national tragedy & crisis,” he said via Twitter.
August 9, 2016