Senator JD Vance (R-OH) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that when former President Donald Trump was speaking about “far-left lunatics who were rioting” when he said the military should go after the “enemy within.”
Vance said, “We’re not talking about the public policy. Can we talk about how Americans can’t afford groceries? Can we talk about how Americans can’t afford the cost of housing? Can we talk about that a lot of people out there and Erie, Pennsylvania, they’re the ones who suffer and die when people like Mark Esper and Mark Milley don’t obey the commander in chief’s orders.”
Host Jake Tapper said, “We are talking about Donald Trump and what he said.”
Vance said, “Yes, and you’d much rather talk about what Donald Trump allegedly said than what Donald Trump did in office.”
Tapper said, “What he says publicly, he wants to use the military to go after the enemy within which is the American people.”
Vance said, “He did not say that he said that he was going to send the military after the American people. Show me the quote where he said that.”
He continued, “You’re using two separate phrases. He said about using the military that far-left lunatics, people who riot in the wake of an election, people who burned down American cities in the summer of 2020, yes, we should have a federal law enforcement response.”
Vance added, “Here’s the game that you’re playing. He said that he wanted to use the military to go after far-left lunatics who are rioting. And he also called them and he also called them the enemy within. He’s separately in a totally different front contexts and a totally different conversation said that Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff or threats to this country.”
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