this is intentionally violent and threatening rhetoric spoken by a former president of the United States meant to vilify american citizens and divide them and sow hatred, fear, chaos and confusion among the national populace.
trump is a malignant narcissist who enjoys dividing people and causing harm to them, he enjoys the many varied ways his language can be taken. He enjoys the division it causes. He enjoys the fear, he enjoys the discomfort. He enjoys the confusion, he enjoys the chaos and he enjoys the division because he's a malignant narcissist.
It is not possible to justify his rhetoric in good faith and anyone who is doing so is debased themselves.
-------------------------------------------------------------
“I always say so we have two enemies — we have the outside enemy and then we have the enemy from within…. The thing that’s tougher to handle are these lunatics that we have inside, like Adam Schiff…. Adam Shifty Schiff, who’s a total sleazebag, is going to become a senator. But I call him the enemy from within,” Trump said. Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff, of California, served on the congressional committee that investigated Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Trump made similar comments during a
taped town hall with Fox News’ Harris Faulkner on Oct. 15.
“Mr. President, Kamala Harris has said you sounded ‘unhinged’ and ‘unchecked power is in our future.’ What do you say about that?” Faulkner asked Trump.
“You know, they are… they’re a party of sound bites,” Trump said in response. “They’re very different and it is the enemy from within and they’re very dangerous. They’re Marxists and Communists and fascists and they’re sick.”
“I use a guy like Adam Schiff because they made up the Russia Russia Russia hoax…. They’re dangerous for our country. We have China. We have Russia. We have all these countries. If you have a smart president, they can all be handled. The more difficult are, you know, the Pelosis — these people…. they’re so sick and they’re so evil,” Trump continued.
In a statement, Steven Cheung, communications director for the Trump campaign, told VERIFY the former president’s “enemy from within” remarks are referring to people seeking to cause chaos on Election Day.
“President Trump is 100% correct — those who seek to undermine democracy by sowing chaos in our elections are a direct threat, just like the terrorist from Afghanistan that was arrested for plotting multiple attacks on Election Day within the United States,” Cheung said.
These aren’t the first instances of the former president using the term “enemy from within.”
On Sept. 3, during an
interview on the Lex Fridman Podcast, Trump told Fridman: “I believe you have to fight fire with fire. I believe they’re very evil people. These are evil people. You know, we have an enemy from the outside and we have an enemy from within. And in my opinion, the enemy from within are radical left lunatics, and I think you have to fight back.”
"I think Nancy Pelosi is an enemy from within,” he said. “She was supposed to protect the Capitol.” He also falsely claimed that he “offered her 10,000 National Guard” and that the California Democrat “didn’t take them.”