US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is known for his colorful and often powerful rhetoric, but recent comments just three weeks before the election have made headlines, especially in the liberal quality media.
Trump has spoken of his political opponents as internal enemies of the country, suggested police violence to curb shoplifting and derided his opponent as mentally retarded.
The former president has also repeatedly spoken about criminal immigrants, from whom the United States must be freed. He has even threatenedthat members of criminal gangs who return to the country are automatically sentenced to ten years in prison. He has also called for the death penalty for immigrants who kill an American citizen.
“Trump accelerates threats against opponents he considers enemies”, headlined The New York Times. “Trump’s verbal rampage casts a shadow over the final weeks of the campaign”, writes Axios. The British newspaper The Guardian saysthat “Trump shocks by calling on the military to take care of enemies on election day.”
Talk of internal enemies as an election weapon for Harris
Trump said in an interview with the news channel Foxthat “internal enemies” are a bigger threat than external enemies.
– We have some very bad people, sick people, far-left crazies. If necessary, the National Guard, or if absolutely necessary, the military should take care of them, the former president said.
He mentioned, among other things, a member of the Democratic House of Representatives as an internal enemy by Adam Schiff. This played a key role in the studywhich Congress launched against Trump during his presidency.
According to the interpretation of The New York Times, Trump threatened to use force against those who disagree with him.
– Never before has a presidential candidate openly proposed turning the army against the Americans just because they oppose his candidacy. Donald Trump has moved to dark promises of revenge, the magazine estimates.
Democratic presidential candidate Terrible Harris showed fresh clips of his opponent’s speech at his own campaign meeting.
– Donald Trump is not […] a man to be taken seriously. But his re-election as president would have brutally serious consequences, Harris said In Erie, Pennsylvania.
– He says that he considers everyone who does not support him to be the enemy of our country. He says he would send an army after them. It’s serious. And we know who the targets would be because he has targeted them before. Journalists whose stories he doesn’t like, election officials who won’t cheat by faking extra votes for him, Harris interpreted.
Harris’ campaign has already used the video in the election advertisement.
Even within the Republican Party, Trump’s comments have caused confusion. According to The New Republic many Republicans have tried to claim Fox’s comments in the TV interview were misinterpreted.
“Trump should be taken seriously”
University researcher Niko Pyrhönen The University of Helsinki is of the opinion that Trump’s rhetoric should be taken seriously, even though there is a reasonable possibility that this does not mean things literally.
According to him, talk about internal enemies is quite typical for right-wing populists around the world. Some basic Finns have also used it, he points out.
Pyrhönen considers it essential that it is not clear who Trump means by internal enemies. One key purpose is probably that everyone can interpret it the way they want.
Another purpose is that such talk is potentially divisive among Democrats.
– Let’s give the impression that some are enemies of the country and some are not. Let’s drive a wedge inside the party, which is certainly quite functional strategically. The party is not very united.
According to Pyrhönen, Trump’s supporters are already quite used to this type of rhetoric. However, there is a group of Republicans who may like the Republican Party, but they may not like Trump as much. Their thoughts can be negatively affected by Trump’s tough speeches.
– According to the latest survey, nine percent of Republican voters are considering voting for Democrats. That would be half more than the average in previous elections.
If Trump is elected president, Pyrhönen believes that this would be a threat to democracy to some extent.
He does not believe that Trump would do or even be able to do all the things he has talked about.
– But in Trump’s previous term, we saw many very worrying developments that challenged democracy.
Trump’s dance video was startling
Yesterday, Tuesday, people got to marvel at Trump’s election rally in Philadelphia turning into a 40-minute long dance performance.
After two members of the audience apparently passed out from the heat, Trump stopped taking questions and called for some music. He himself danced on stage to the music.
In many social media comments, this has been described as strange and some have suspected Trump mental state as well.
Kamala Harris shared a tweet about the dance scene in X and only commented:
– I hope he is ok.