Republicans Try to Rewrite Trump’s Threat to Use Military Against Citizens – Rolling Stone

                        By  <a class="c-link  lrv-u-color-black lrv-u-color-brand-primary:hover lrv-u-text-decoration-underline:hover" href="https://www.rollingstone.com/author/nikki-mccann-ramirez/"            >   Nikki McCann Ramirez</a>                        <br>    <span class="lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012">Over the weekend,</span>  <a  href="https://www.rollingstone.com/t/donald-trump/"  id="auto-tag_donald-trump"  data-tag="donald-trump"  >Donald Trump</a> crystalized his authoritarian vision for the nation when he suggested <a  href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-military-target-americans-oppose-him-1235132806/"  >siccing the military</a> on his political opponents and American citizens to destroy the &ldquo;enemy from within.&rdquo; Despite the former president&#8217;s direct appeal to full-blown fascism, Republicans are lining up to defend and downplay his comments.&nbsp;<br>    &#8203;&#8203;&ldquo;I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within,&rdquo; Trump told Fox News&rsquo; Maria Bartiromo on Sunday when asked if he anticipated &ldquo;chaos on Election Day&rdquo; from undocumented immigrants. &ldquo;We have some very bad people, some sick people, radical left lunatics. &hellip; And it should be easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the <a  href="https://www.rollingstone.com/t/military/"  id="auto-tag_military"  data-tag="military"  >military</a>.&rdquo;<br>   On Monday, Virginia&rsquo;s Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin attempted to rewrite Trump&rsquo;s comments as concerns about immigration, <a href="https://x.com/atrupar/status/1845940429469950348" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">telling CNN&rsquo;s Jake Tapper</a> that what the former president was talking about was the &ldquo;people coming over the border,&rdquo; and that Tapper was &ldquo;misrepresenting and misinterpreting&rdquo; Trump&rsquo;s comments.&nbsp;    <div class="admz" id="adm-inline-article-ad-1">                     <div class="adma boomerang" data-device="Desktop" data-width="300">                  <div style="min-width:50px;min-height:75px;"   class="pmc-adm-boomerang-pub-div ad-text"   data-priority="10" >    <div id="gpt-dsk-tab-article-inbody-uid0"       class="adw-300 adh-250" data-is-adhesion-ad="">         <script type="application/javascript">
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