A day after giving a rare unusually focused speech, Donald Trump shot himself in the face by, ironically, invoking the Second Amendment.
During a speech in Wilmington, North Carolina, the Republican presidential nominee said that if Hillary Clinton “wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment, and by the way, and if she gets to pick, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks.” He then added, with a baffling shrug, “Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I dunno.” (It should be noted that Clinton hasn’t proposed anything that comes anywhere close to abolishing the Second Amendment, but that hasn’t stopped Trump from repeating this same lie over and over.)
In case you forgot your middle school history, the Second Amendment gives people the right to “keep and bear Arms.” If Trump’s saying what many people think he’s saying — that using guns is the only way to stop Clinton — it’s no wonder 50 GOP national security experts said he’d “be the most reckless president in American history.” This is something Trump has a long history of doing — saying vague things that send messages and signals to people. He might want to keep this in mind in this case, though.
If Trump wants to be the "law and order candidate," he might want to brush up on this part of the US Code: pic.twitter.com/aXpyVQXrX6
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) August 9, 2016
Trump later added, “But I’ll tell you what, that will be a horrible day. If Hillary gets to put her judges… right now, we’re tied – you see what’s going on. We’re tied, ’cause, Scalia, this was not supposed to happen. Justice Scalia was going to be around for ten more years, at least, and this is what happens. That was a horrible thing.” Trump knows a lot about horrible things.
Like his comments today.
As soon as Trump’s comments fell from his lips, his team felt the backlash and issued an immediate response to the “dishonest media.” Their official spin is that Trump was only speaking to the “power of unification” and the “amazing spirit” of 2nd Amendment advocates, who he claims will vote “in record numbers” for him over Clinton. They want everyone to believe Trump was only urging them to the polls, rather than hinting at violence.
Trump campaign statement on 2nd Amendment blames the "dishonest media" pic.twitter.com/JQBtaqid5X
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) August 9, 2016
The Clinton campaign was also quick to call Trump’s words “dangerous” and condemn the Republican nominee’s words.
Clinton campaign: "A person seeking to the be President of the United States should not suggest violence in
any way" pic.twitter.com/SwFhiwUqdr— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) August 9, 2016