JD Vance sat down with CNN’s Jake Tapper over the weekend to combat claims about his running mate’s rhetoric.
The Saturday sit-down saw Tapper, the host of the network’s State of the Union, question the republican candidate about Donald Trump, chiefly comments delivered to Joe Rogan this past Friday.
There, the presidential candidate insisted ‘we have people that are really bad, people that I really think want to make this country unsuccessful’. He went on to brand the group – who many assumed to be the left – as ‘the enemy from within.’
Vance, in turn, claimed the anchor was taking the conservative’s comments out of context, while attempting to address a theory about why big-name Republicans are turning their back on him.
Framing Republican Trump critics like Liz Cheney and General John Kelly as liars, he proceeded to embark on a defensive, combative tirade.
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JD Vance sat down with CNN’s Jake Tapper Saturday to combat claims about his running mate’s rhetoric
The Sunday sit-down saw Tapper, the host of the network’s State of the Union, question the republican candidate about Donald Trump, including comments given to Joe Rogan this past Friday
‘That’s the game that you’re playing?’ Vance, 40, said Sunday in response to Tapper’s ‘enemy from within’ comments.
‘I’m not playing a game!’ the host shot back, at one point laughing off Vance’s conspiracy about his colleague’s old allies.
‘He said that he wanted to use the military to go after far left lunatics who are rioting,’ Vance then explained.
‘He also called them the enemy within. He separately, in a totally different context and a totally different conversation, said that Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff were threats to this country.’
Unconvinced, Tapper continued to claim that Trump had been referring to members of the opposing party when he made the remark.
‘Were the enemy within!’ Tapper said, pointing to progressives and networks like CNN.
‘He said they were the enemy within!’ he continued – leading to a back-and-forth between the two parties.
The topic, of course, had been the true context of Trump’s comments, which Tapper claimed Vance had been trying to trivialize with his characterization.
There, the presidential candidate insisted ‘we have people that are really bad, people that I really think want to make this country unsuccessful’. He branded the group as ‘the enemy from within’
The topic Saturday was thus the true context of Trump’s comments, which Tapper claimed Vance was trying to trivialize with his characterization
‘Now you’re giving a very narrow definition of what he said, which is not what he said!’ Tapper insisted during the interview.
‘That’s not what he said.’
Vance went on to speak about how he had agreed with Trump in that some of the Democrats posed a bigger threat to the US than foreign dignitaries.
‘What he said, and I do agree with this, what he said is that the biggest threat we have in our country, it’s not a foreign adversary, because we can handle these guys,’ Vance said.
‘We can handle foreign conflicts. We can’t handle – look, under Nancy Pelosi’s long life in public leadership, the United States has gone from the pre-eminent industrial power of the world to second next to China.
‘That fundamentally belongs on Nancy Pelosi’s shoulders.’
At another point, Tapper responded by questioning the VP candidate about the criticisms launched by former staff members who have left the Trump camp over the years – including allegations the Republican is ‘a fascist’ and a threat to democracy.
Retired Gen. John Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, made such claims last week, paving the way for the exchange on Rogan.
Retired Gen. John Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, claimed the conservative fit the definition of a facist last week, paving the way for the exchange on Rogan
Worsening matters was that days earlier, Liz Cheney, the Republican daughter of late VP Dick Cheney, launched similar claims, before suggesting on Sunday former Trump administration figures who have been speaking out against Trump like Kelly ‘know’ he ‘has no conscience.’
‘You’re taking words out of context,’ an audibly frustrated Vance told Tapper – who ended up laughing in his face – in response.
‘If you’d like to put up a clip and actually put him in context, I think the American people would realize that Donald Trump is a hell of a lot more reasonable than the people like Liz Cheney, who would like to lie us into war.’
Shortly after the interview aired, the former congresswoman spoke to Fox News, where she reiterated how she was voting for Kamala Harris – hours after appearing on CBS News’ “Face the Nation’ to share similar sentiments.
‘I don’t think it’s about putting convictions aside,’ she told host Margaret Brennan when asked how she set aside her pro-life views to vote for a progressive like Harris.
‘I think it’s about looking at the reality on the ground of what’s happened since Roe was overturned.’
She had been one of ten house Republicans to vote to impeach Trump in the aftermath of the Jan 6 insurrection in 2021, after which she was booted from her role as House Republican Conference Chair.
Worsening matters was that days earlier, Liz Cheney, the Republican daughter of late VP Dick Cheney, launched similar claims, before suggesting on Sunday former Trump administration figures who have been speaking out against Trump like Kelly ‘know’ he ‘has no conscience’
As for Kelly, a 45-year vet of the Marines who rose to become a four-star general, he stepped down as White House chief of staff in the opening days of 2019.
In an interview with with The New York Times published Tuesday, he said his old boss met the definition of a facist.
‘He certainly prefers the dictator approach to government,’ Kelly, 74, told the Times.
‘I think he’d love to be just like he was in business,’ he went on to add. ‘He could tell people to do things and they would do it, and not really bother too much about whether what the legalities were and whatnot.’
Trump went on to denounce his old staffer as a ‘degenerate” and a “low life”, in a post to Truth Social.
‘This guy had two qualities, which don’t work well together,’ he wrote. ‘He was tough and dumb. John Kelly is a low life.’
As of writing, the election remains a little over a week away.