- Vice President Kamala Harris claimed former President Donald Trump said he would use the U.S. military to "go after" Americans who disagree with him, whom he called "the enemy from within."
- Indeed, in an interview, Trump described political opponents, including Rep. Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California running for Senate, as "the enemy from within." He added that in his opinion, these "very bad people" were a bigger threat than immigrants and foreign nationals. He suggested that on Election Day, it would be appropriate to call the National Guard and "even the military" to "handle" such "agitators."
- Days later, during a town hall hosted by Fox News, Trump doubled down on his remarks, adding former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to the list of "enemies from within" who are "dangerous for our country."
- Since Trump, even if reelected, would not be the sitting president on Election Day, he would not have the power to order the National Guard or any arm of the U.S. military to fight his political opponents or anyone else on that day.
- Harris and others interpreted Trump's words as a warning of the type of action he might take during his term as commander in chief, should he be reelected.
As early voting began for the 2024 U.S. presidential election, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris accused her opponent, Republican former President Donald Trump, of saying that if he is reelected, he would use the military against those who do not support him. Harris made those remarks at a campaign event in Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 16:
Here is her full quote (emphasis ours):
HARRIS: And now Donald Trump is telling us how he intends to use power if he is elected again. He has stated that one of the biggest threats America faces is, quote, "the enemy from within." The —
[AUDIENCE BOOS.]
HARRIS: "The enemy from within."
But know where that language hearkens back to. Understand and let us be clear about what he is saying. He considers any American who doesn't support him or bend to his will to be an enemy to our country.
And further, he says that, as commander in chief, he would use our military to go after them. Honestly, let that sink in: use of the American military to go after American citizens.
And we know who he would target first, because he has targeted them and attacked them before: journalists whose stories he doesn't like, nonpartisan election officials who refuse to cheat by finding extra votes for him, judges who insist on following the law instead of following him.
It is clear Donald Trump is increasingly unstable and unhinged.
[AUDIENCE APPLAUDS.]
And he is seeking unchecked power.
What Trump Actually Said
Harris was referring to an interview Trump gave to Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business that aired three days earlier. Bartiromo asked Trump to imagine what he expected might happen if "outside agitators" caused trouble on Election Day. Here is the full exchange:
The transcript read (emphasis ours):
BARTIROMO: I'm just wondering if these outside agitators will start up on Election Day. Let's say you win, I mean let's remember, you've got 50,000 Chinese nationals in this country in the last couple of years, you have people on the terrorist watchlist, 350 in the last couple of years. You've got — like you said — 13,000 murderers and 15,000 rapists. What are you expecting? Joe Biden said he doesn't think it's going to be a peaceful Election Day.
TRUMP: Well, he doesn't have any idea what's happening in all fairness. He spends most of his day sleeping. I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within, not even the people that have come and… and destroying our country and, by the way, totally destroying our country. The towns and villages, they're being inundated. But I don't think they're the problem in terms of Election Day. I think the bigger problem are the people from within. We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical-left lunatics. And I think… and it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard or if really necessary by the military, because they can't let that happen.
Indeed, Trump insisted that on Election Day, the biggest problem would not be foreign nationals, but "the enemy from within," that is: Americans. By "radical-left lunatics," Trump referred to people on opposite end of the political spectrum from the Republican conservatism he purported to stand for — in other words, his political opponents. He said he thought sending the National Guard, or even the military, against these people would be the appropriate response. (We should note that the National Guard is the main combat reserve for the Army and Air Force.)
On Election Day 2024, Trump would not be the sitting president, and therefore he would not have the power to send the military in response to this perceived threat. But Harris and several news outlets took his words as a sign that, as commander in chief, he would not rule out sending the armed forces against Americans if they expressed views that opposed his.
Later in the interview, Bartiromo asked Trump what he would do against "bureaucrats undermining" him. Trump replied, referring to Rep. Adam Schiff of California, who was running for Senate, and left no doubt as to whom he considered to be "enemies from within" (emphasis ours):
Well, I always say so. We have two enemies. We have the outside enemy, and then we have the enemy from within. And the enemy from within, in my opinion, is more dangerous than China, Russia and all these countries. Because if you have a smart president, he can handle them pretty easily. I handled — I got along great with all of them. I handled them. But the thing that's tougher to handle are these lunatics that we have inside.
Like Adam Schiff, Adam "Shifty" Schiff, think of it this guy's going to be a senator. He's running against a guy that doesn't understand politics at all. Garvey. But he was a good baseball player, but he doesn't understand politics at all. Adam "Shifty" Schiff, who is a total sleazebag, is going to become a senator. But I call him the enemy from within. When you look at the danger he put our country and potentially with Russia with a phony made-up deal that he made up with Hillary [Clinton] and some bad people, you know, that was that started off as an excuse for why she lost an election that a lot of people thought she should have won because the polls indicated she might win. And then she got beaten everywhere virtually.
Trump Doubles Down
NBC News and The New York Times reported that at a town hall in Georgia on Oct. 15, 2024, Fox News presenter Harris Faulkner asked Trump to clarify his comments and what he meant by "the enemy within." He replied "it is the enemy from within and they're very dangerous. They are Marxists and communists and fascists."
"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," he said, referring to Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California. "These people, they're so sick and they're so evil."
He doubled down on his view of Schiff as an "enemy within":
I use a guy like Adam Schiff because they made up the Russia, Russia hoax. It took two years to solve the problem. Absolutely nothing was done wrong, etc., etc. They're dangerous for our country.
In other words, he considered "the enemy within" those who encouraged investigations of his actions and supported his prosecution.
On Oct. 17, 2024, Fox News aired its first interview with Harris. During this interview, Harris reiterated her criticism of Trump's comments. In response, Fox News host Bret Baier played a clip of the Faulkner town hall in which he said Trump had addressed Harris' attack (at 18:40 in this video). In the clip, Trump said:
I heard about that. They were saying I was, like, threatening. I'm not threatening anybody, they're the ones doing the threatening. They do phony investigations. I've been investigated more than Alphonse Capone, he was the greatest gangster… No, it's true. No, but think of it. It's called weaponization of government, it's a terrible thing.
Harris confronted Baier immediately, saying that the clip he had chosen to play did not accurately portray Trump's stance. Baier later apologized for playing a misleading clip. CNN later played the clip from the Faulkner-hosted town hall in which Trump insisted that Democrats were "the enemy from within," comparing it with what was shown during Baier's interview of Harris: