Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich observes that the alliance between the National Rifle Association (NRA) and Donald Trump is eroding the Democrats’ hold on rural America.
The NRA not only endorsed Trump on May 20, but has reaffirmed its commitment to him time and again in the months since. Most recently, on August 10, CNN reported NRA-ILA’s executive director, Chris Cox, stressed that Trump is “the Second Amendment candidate we need.” Also, on August 10, The New York Times highlighted that the NRA is standing strong with Trump.
Gingrich sees this alliance as a winner inasmuch as it brings highly active, grassroots Second Amendment supporters to the Trump campaign. When combined with Trump’s appeal to the working man, it deals a death blow to the Democratic Party’s grip on rural America.
According to The Hill, Gingrich said, “It’s probably the single most reliable base of votes, and it’s one of the reasons that in rural America you now see the virtual collapse of the Democratic Party.”
Both the NRA and Trump continue to stress that a Hillary Clinton presidency will mark the end of Second Amendment freedoms. The NRA stresses that giving Clinton the ability to nominate Supreme Court justices is tantamount to giving her the power to redefine–or completely erase–gun rights, while Trump continually stresses that Clinton wants to “abolish the Second Amendment.”
On August 9, Trump said, “Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish, the Second Amendment.” He echoed the NRA by stressing that she will use the Supreme Court to do it. Trump made clear that he will take a different road, selecting Supreme Court justices like Antonin Scalia and pledging to work with the NRA to do so.
Trump is a lifetime member of the NRA. Clinton has declared war on the NRA.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.