Trump sparks outrage after calling on army to deal with enemies on Election Day | US elections 2024

Donald Trump has sparked a furious backlash from Democrats after he called for using US military forces against his political opponents when voters go to the polls in next month's presidential election.

In comments that further stoked fears of an authoritarian crackdown if he retakes the White House, the Republican nominee said the military or National Guard should be used in the Nov. 5 election against opponents he described as “the domestic ones.” “enemy”.

He pointed out that California congressman Adam Schiff, who was the lead prosecutor in the ex-president's first impeachment trial, posed a greater threat to free and fair elections than foreign terrorists or illegal immigrants, his usual main target for insults.

Trump's comments to Fox News in response to a question about possible “election chaos” sparked an angry reaction from Kamala Harris' campaign team, who compared them to previous comments that he would be a dictator “on day one” of a second and his presidency Suggestions that the US Constitution should be suspended to overturn the 2020 election results, which he falsely claims were stolen by Joe Biden.

Trump and the vice president are in a tough competition as Election Day approaches. In most national polls, Harris is narrowly ahead, but in the key swing states that will decide the election, the competition appears to be much tighter, giving Trump plenty of opportunities for a possible victory.

After initially declaring that the election chaos would not come from his side, Trump launched a vituperative attack on his opponents when interviewer Maria Bartiromo raised the possibility of outside agitators or immigrants committing crimes.

“I think the bigger problem is the people on the inside. We have some very bad people. We have some sick people,” he said on Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”

“This should be handled very simply by the National Guard if necessary or by the military if it is really necessary, because they cannot allow this to happen.”

At a rally in Pennsylvania on Monday night, Harris criticized Donald Trump for his comments and showed a clip of the former president making the remarks.

“A second Trump term would be a major risk for America and dangerous. “Donald Trump is becoming increasingly unstable and unhinged,” Harris told the crowd after playing the clip.

Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a historian and expert on fascism at New York University, told NBC that Trump was announcing what he planned to do as president, comparing it to the prevailing “strongman” patterns of Viktor Orbán, Narendra Modi and Vladimir Putin, the leaders of Hungary, India and Russia.

“He's actually rehearsing in some ways what he would do as head of state, what Orbán is doing, Modi is doing, Putin has been doing for a long time,” she said.

Trump turned his fire on Schiff, who is running for the U.S. Senate in next month's election. He said: “What's harder to deal with are these madmen we have inside us, like Adam Schiff.”

It was his second attack in two days on Schiff, earning Trump's enmity when he was the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee during his presidency when he said there was evidence of collusion between Trump and Russia during the 2016 election .The House of Representatives, under Republican leadership, later voted to censure Schiff over his comments.

At a rally in Coachella, California – a state he has virtually no chance of winning – Trump on Saturday mocked Schiff's physical features and called him a greater threat than foreign opponents, including Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“He (Xi) is someone we can deal with,” Trump said. “The worst people are the enemies from within, the sleaze bags, the guy you're going to elect to the Senate, the shady Adam Schiff. He's a real idiot.

He claimed, without providing evidence, that Schiff was involved in mass voter fraud. “They’re sending millions and millions of ballots everywhere,” he said. “(In) California there is nothing like a voting booth. They take ballots and just send them everywhere. They come back and say, Oh, someone won by 5 million votes.”

Schiff responded on Twitter/X by accusing Trump of inciting violence in the same way he was widely accused of on January 6, 2021, when a mob attacked the US Capitol to prevent the certification of Biden's election victory.

“Today Trump threatened to use the military against the 'enemies within.' The same thing he called me,” Schiff wrote.

“Just as he incited a mob to attack the Capitol, he is again fomenting violence against those who oppose him.”

Harris' campaign condemned him more broadly. “Donald Trump suggests that his fellow Americans are worse 'enemies' than foreign adversaries, and he says he would use the military against them,” said a campaign spokesman, Ian Sams.

“Given his vow to be a dictator on 'day one', calling for the 'termination' of the Constitution and planning to surround himself with sycophants who will give him unchecked, unprecedented power when he returns to office, this should worry everyone .” American who cares about his freedom and security.

“What Donald Trump is promising is dangerous, and his return to office is simply a risk Americans cannot afford.”

Although Trump will not be able to deploy troops on Election Day, his call for military force to suppress political opposition is well known and is reminiscent of his call to deploy soldiers on the streets of Washington DC in 2020 to disperse thousands of demonstrators protesting against the death of George Floyd.

Gen. Mark Milley, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was reportedly on the verge of resigning over this demand.

Milley, now at odds with Trump, is quoted in a new book by Bob Woodward – the journalist who, along with Carl Bernstein, helped uncover the 1970s Watergate scandal – as calling the former president “a total called “fascists”. and has expressed fears that he could be recalled to duty and court-martialed if he returns to office.