JD Vance sat down with CNN’s Jake Tapper over the weekend to combat accusations about his running mate’s rhetoric.
At Saturday’s meeting, Tapper, the network’s State of the Union host, grilled the Republican nominee about Donald Trump, primarily comments delivered to Joe Rogan last Friday.
There, the presidential candidate insisted: ‘we have people who are really bad, people who I really believe want this country to fail.’ He went on to call the group – which many assumed was leftist – “the enemy within.”
Vance, in turn, claimed that the host was taking the conservative’s comments out of context, while also trying to address a theory about why big-name Republicans are turning their backs on him.
Calling Trump’s Republican critics such as Liz Cheney and General John Kelly liars, he proceeded to embark on a defensive and combative tirade.
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JD Vance sat down with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Saturday to combat claims about his running mate’s rhetoric.
At Sunday’s meeting, Tapper, the network’s State of the Union host, grilled the Republican nominee about Donald Trump, including comments he made to Joe Rogan last Friday.
‘Is that the game you’re playing?’ Vance, 40, said Sunday in response to comments from Tapper’s “enemy within.”
‘I’m not playing any games!’ the host responded, at one point laughing at Vance’s conspiracy about his colleague’s former allies.
“He said he wanted to use the military to go after far-left lunatics who are rioting,” Vance explained.
‘He also called them the internal enemy. He separately, in a totally different context and in a totally different conversation, said that Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff were threats to this country.’
Unconvinced, Tapper went on to claim that Trump had been referring to members of the opposing party when he made the comment.
The enemy was inside! Tapper said, pointing to progressives and networks like CNN.
‘He said they were the enemy within!’ -he continued-, which caused a tug of war between the two parties.
The issue, 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 who are really bad, people who I really believe want this country to fail.’ He described the group as “the internal enemy.”
Saturday’s topic was therefore 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 talk about how he had agreed with Trump that some of the Democrats posed a greater threat to the United States than foreign dignitaries.
“What he said, and I agree with this, is that the biggest threat we have in our country is not a foreign adversary, because we can handle these guys,” Vance said.
‘We can handle foreign conflicts. We can’t handle it. Look, under Nancy Pelosi’s long life in public leadership, the United States has gone from being the world’s preeminent industrial power to being second only to China.
“That’s fundamentally up to Nancy Pelosi.”
At another point, Tapper responded by questioning the vice presidential nominee about criticism leveled by former staffers who have left Trump’s camp over the years, including accusations that the Republican is “a fascist” and a threat to the democracy.
Retired Gen. John Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, made such claims last week, paving the way for the exchange over Rogan.
Retired Gen. John Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, claimed last week that the conservative fit the definition of a fascist, paving the way for the exchange over Rogan.
What made matters worse was that days earlier, Liz Cheney, the Republican daughter of the late Vice President Dick Cheney, made similar claims, before suggesting on Sunday that previous Trump administration figures who have been speaking out against Trump like Kelly “know “that “has no conscience.”
“You’re taking words out of context,” Vance told an audibly frustrated Tapper, who ended up laughing in his face in response.
‘If you wanted to play a clip and put it in context, I think the American people would realize that Donald Trump is a hell of a lot more reasonable than people like Liz Cheney, who would like to lie to us about 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 letting go of your convictions,” he told host Margaret Brennan when asked how he set aside his pro-life views to vote for a progressive like Harris.
“I think it’s about looking at the on-the-ground reality of what’s happened since Roe was overturned.”
She was one of ten House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after the January 6, 2021 insurrection, after which she was expelled from her position as chair of the House Republican Conference.
What made matters worse was that days earlier, Liz Cheney, the Republican daughter of the late Vice President Dick Cheney, made similar claims, before suggesting on Sunday that previous Trump administration figures who have been speaking out against Trump like Kelly “know “that “has no conscience.”
As for Kelly, a 45-year-old Marine Corps veteran who rose to become a four-star general, he resigned as White House chief of staff in the early days of 2019.
In an interview with The New York Times published Tuesday, he said his former boss met the definition of a fascist.
“He certainly prefers the government’s dictatorial approach,” Kelly, 74, told the Times.
“I think he would love to be the way he was in business,” he added. “I could tell people to do things and they would do them, without worrying too much about what the legalities were and all that.”
Trump went on to denounce his former employee as a “degenerate” and a “low life,” in a post on Truth Social.
“This guy had two qualities that didn’t mix well,” he wrote. “He was tough and stupid. John Kelly is a criminal.
At the time of writing this article, the elections are just over a week away.