Donald Trump has done it again, appearing to say something so over the top that some say it disqualifies him from being president:
“Hillary wants to essentially abolish the Second Amendment. And by the way, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know.”
Does that sound like he is calling on “the Second Amendment people,” that is to say, gun owners, to assassinate her?
Trump’s apologists are saying that he was just calling on the NRA and everyone concerned with Second Amendment rights to rally around his candidacy and support him with their votes, so as to prevent her from abolishing the Second Amendment and picking her judges.
But he is clearly talking about after her election. “Nothing you can do folks” to prevent her from picking her judges. If he were talking about voting against her, “folks” could certainly do that. Here he is talking about people doing something “if she gets to pick her judges”–that is, if she is elected and has presidential power.
Aren’t I right? Is there any other way to read this statement that takes into account what it actually says?
I suspect he was joking, but still, how reckless and undisciplined and thoughtless this shows him to be! Is he trying to get people not to vote for him?
I would add that what he said should also be offensive to “Second Amendment people,” since it plays into the liberal gun-control advocates’ stereotype that owners of firearms are potential criminals and dangerous to society.
Threatening a presidential candidate, by the way, is a federal offense, punishable by five years in prison.
UPDATE: I just heard the next line: “By the way, and if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know. But I’ll tell you what, that will be a horrible day.”
It “will be a horrible day” that Second Amendment people come together to vote for him? This pretty much, shall we say, shoots down his own campaign’s spin on the statement, as well as other attempts to interpret what he said in a positive way. The best we can do is say he was joking, but, even then, that’s a joke that can’t be justified, either practically (since it could come off as a marching order for a loony follower) or politically (since it gives more people a reason not to vote for him).
From Trump appears to encourage gun-rights advocates to shoot Hillary – NY Daily News:
Donald Trump appeared to encourage supporters of the Second Amendment to shoot Hillary Clinton Tuesday — a terrifying remark that could qualify as a felony crime — prompting countless political figures and gun-control advocates to call for the unhinged nominee’s exit from the presidential race.
At a speech in Wilmington, N.C., Trump was riffing on his dissatisfaction with the federal and Supreme Court judges that might be appointed to the bench in a prospective Clinton administration when he uttered what seemed to be a jaw-dropping implication.
“Hillary wants to essentially abolish the Second Amendment. And by the way, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks,” Trump said.
“Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know,” Trump added in what seemed to be a thinly-veiled suggestion that gun advocates turn their weapons on his November opponent.
A few in the crowd cheered, but many others appeared shocked by the jarring insinuation, including a man sitting directly behind the mogul whose mouth fell agape as Trump uttered the apparent incitement to violence.
Twitter lit up just seconds after Trump made the remark, with thousands of figures in politics and media wondering if the mogul had just suggested that gun-owners to turn their weapons on Clinton due to her desire to tighten gun control laws.
In a statement provided following Trump’s extreme speech, his campaign said the candidate was referring merely to “the amazing spirit” of Second Amendment advocates.
“It’s called the power of unification – 2nd Amendment people have amazing spirit and are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power. And this year, they will be voting in record numbers, and it won’t be for Hillary Clinton, it will be for Donald Trump,” Jason Miller, a spokesman for the Trump camp, said.
