During a recent appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) defended his running mate, former President Donald Trump, over his “enemy from within” comments targeting political opponents. Vance argued that “broken” leadership in the United States poses a greater threat to the country than foreign adversaries like Russia and China.
The question of whether Trump’s opponents, such as Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), are more dangerous than foreign adversaries was posed to Vance. He replied, “What Donald Trump said is that those folks pose a greater threat to our country’s peace and security because America is strong enough to stand up to any foreign adversary.”
When pressed on whether certain political opponents pose a larger threat than Russia and China, Vance emphasized that the biggest threat to the country is its own leadership. He pointed to Pelosi’s long tenure in public leadership and the decline of the United States as an industrial power, saying, “Under Nancy Pelosi’s long life in public leadership, the United States has gone from the preeminent industrial power in the world to second next to China. That fundamentally belongs on Nancy Pelosi’s shoulders.”
Vance also criticized Pelosi’s leadership, saying, “If we’re going to have a more prosperous country, we’ve got to recognize that our own leadership is why we lost our industrial base to China. Our own leadership is failing to lead this country into peace and prosperity.”
Trump’s comments on the “enemy from within” drew criticism earlier this month after he used the term in a Fox News interview with Maria Bartiromo. He claimed that the “enemy from within” is more dangerous than China, Russia, and other countries, and that it should be handled by the National Guard or military if necessary.
Trump has also recently alleged, without evidence, that an “enemy from within” leaked highly classified U.S. intelligence documents involving Israel. The FBI is investigating this incident.
