Vice presidential candidate Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) defended former President Trump’s comments suggesting using military force to fight “enemies within” on Election Day in an interview with NBC News released Saturday.
“I think what Donald Trump is saying is that because America is powerful enough to stand up to any foreign adversary, those people are a greater threat to the peace and security of the United States,” Vance told Meet the Press host Kristen Welker.
“What he said, and I agree with that, is that our greatest threat is not foreign enemies, because we can deal with these people,” Vance said, before singling out former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. We can handle foreign conflicts,” he added.
“Under Nancy Pelosi’s long public leadership, the United States has risen from being the world’s preeminent industrial power to second only to China,” Vance said.
His criticism of the California representative signals a larger fight between Republicans and Democrats to secure razor-thin races in the final days before the general election.
“It fundamentally rests on the shoulders of Nancy Pelosi, and if we are to have a more prosperous country, we must recognize that our own leadership is the reason we lost our industrial base to China,” Vance said.
Pelosi has been public with her criticism of the senator, including questioning his comments during the recent vice presidential debate in which he revealed his personal connection to reproductive rights.
President Trump has been under scrutiny since he said in an interview with Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo that “people within” are a greater threat to the country than foreign enemies. He added that the unrest of his critics after the election “should be dealt with very easily by the National Guard if necessary, and by the military if really necessary.” Because they can’t let that happen.
Trump later doubled down on his comments despite the criticism.
