The Enemy Within, no Joke?

Halloween is coming soon, so we expect to see lots of scary creatures around. My suburban neighborhood showcases the wonders of imagination with skeletons, ghosts, and assorted macabre creatures. All in good fun, of course. No one really expects that zombies and body snatchers will soon wander down the block.

That said, there are some actually scary things happening in the real world of politics. Now is the time, the pundits tell us, when actual everyday voters (unlike we political nerds) first start firming their opinions and paying attention to the pre-election dramas unfolding in our midst. And, in keeping with the season, there are bizarre things happening on the various campaign trails. And, these occurrences are being noticed and reported by mainstream media. Most of them reflect the strange MAGA campaign of the former president.

Recently, DJT has been speaking about "the enemy within", an odd phrase to use when referring to the American people. When VP Kamala Harris was interviewed on Fox, she discussed this use of words and the plan to use the military against Americans. Brent Baier denied this phrase was used. Harris called him out for only playing a part of the clip where the claim was made. Verify validated her claims below:

"Former President Donald Trump has said he would use the military against Americans who he referred to as "the enemy from within" in multiple interviews, as Vice President Kamala Harris claimed.

On Oct. 13, during an interview with Fox News' Maria Bartiromo, Trump was asked if he is expecting chaos on Election Day. The former president said he was not anticipating mayhem from "the side that votes for Trump" but from what he called "the enemy from within."

"I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within, not even the people that have come in and [are destroying] our country — I don't think they're the problem in terms of Election Day — I think the bigger problem are the people from within," Trump said.

"We have some very bad people; we have some sick people, radical left lunatics. And it should be very easily handled, if necessary, by the National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military, because they can't let that happen," Trump added.

Later in the interview, Trump told Bartiromo "the enemy from within, in my opinion, is more dangerous than China, Russia" and other foreign adversaries of the United States.

"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."

 

(The term "the enemy within" was frequently used by the ultimately disgraced Senator Joseph McCarthy in his failed quest to purge the so-called hidden Communists working in our government.)

 

Appearances before major media outlets brought out strange remarks and wild answers to serious questions, such as noted below by The New York Times about the interview conducted in Chicago by Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief, Mr. John Micklethwait, before the Economic Club of Chicago. DJT even argued with his interviewer about tariffs

"Mr. Trump's refusal to answer questions directly about his relationship with Mr. Putin was consistent with the tone throughout Tuesday's interview, which took place in a ballroom of the Fairmont hotel.

The former president frequently ignored the thrust of the questions he was asked, instead giving meandering responses that included unrelated points and hard-to-follow anecdotes. He frequently dwelt on how nicely or poorly he felt that various people, institutions and corporations had treated him.Toward the end of their conversation, Mr. Micklethwait brought up the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, by some of Mr. Trump's supporters. He asked the former president if he would commit to "respecting and encouraging a peaceful transfer of power this year."Mr. Trump would not commit to one. "Well, you had a peaceful transfer of power," he said, referring to January 2021, as some of the hundreds of business and civic leaders seated in the ballroom applauded.

Mr. Micklethwait expressed his disbelief. "You had a peaceful transfer of power compared with Venezuela," Mr. Micklethwait said. "But it was by far the worst transfer of power for a long time.""As members of the crowd booed, Mr. Trump expressed his gratitude and pointed the finger at Mr. Micklethwait, accusing him of being biased. Then, rather than answering the question, he tried to shift the subject to his false claims of election fraud.Mr. Trump minimized the violence of his supporters and alluded to conspiratorial claims that the events were spurred on by law enforcement officials. And he pointed to his eventual departure of the White House on Inauguration Day — weeks after his efforts to cling to power had failed — as evidence of a "very peaceful transfer" as he rejected Mr. Micklethwait's question. As members of the crowd booed, Mr. Trump expressed his gratitude and pointed the finger at Mr. Micklethwait, accusing him of being biased. Then, rather than answering the question, he tried to shift the subject to his false claims of election fraud."Mr. Trump minimized the violence of his supporters and alluded to conspiratorial claims that the events were spurred on by law enforcement officials. And he pointed to his eventual departure of the White House on Inauguration Day — weeks after his efforts to cling to power had failed — as evidence of a "very peaceful transfer" as he rejected Mr. Micklethwait's question.

At another event, a friendly Town Hall, the room was overheated, (some say because the campaign would not pay for AC) and two attendees required medical attention, so the Q & Awas halted as they received care.

 

According to NPR

"A Trump town hall in Oaks, Pa., Monday night went from a Q&A session to a bizarre musical event in which Donald Trump stood in front of his audience for an extended period while songs played on the sound system.

The town hall portion of the event lasted nearly an hour and was moderated by Kristi Noem, South Dakota's Republican governor, who is a Trump ally.

The questioners were all friendly to Trump, with questions about how he would bring down inflation, as well as boost small businesses.

The town hall was paused twice for incidents in which the crowd called for a medic. Audience members shouted that the room was too hot."

"Trump remained onstage for more than half an hour while an array of songs played, including "Hallelujah" as performed by Rufus Wainwright, as well as "November Rain" by Guns N' Roses.

On Tuesday, Trump, posting on his Truth Social account, called the evening "amazing."

"The Q and A was almost finished when people began fainting from the excitement and heat," he said. "We started playing music while we waited, and just kept it going. So different, but it ended up being a GREAT EVENING!

More from the Bloomberg interview  on msn:

Bloomberg; Critics say your tariffs will end up being like a national sales tax

Trump: Nope, nope. Because the countries will pay.

Micklethwait: If you have, if you have, America at the moment has three trillion dollars worth of imports. You're going to add tariffs to every single one of them. That is going to push up the cost for all those people who want to buy foreign goods. That is just simple mathematics, President Trump.

Trump: It's not. It is, but not the way you've figured. I was always very good at mathematics. Let me tell you, you're saying 3 trillion.

Micklethwait: That's 3 trillion dollars worth of imports.

Trump: And they don't have to pay. And if, by the way, the higher the tariff, the more likely it is to have them come into the country.

Micklethwait: The higher the tariff, the more you're going to put on the value of that, those goods, the higher people are going to have to pay in shops.

Trump: Ready? Ready? The higher the tariff, the more likely it is that the company will come into the United States, and build a factory in the United States, so it doesn't have to pay the tariff. If I have—

Micklethwait: That will take, that will take, that will take many, many, as you know, that will take many years.

Trump: In fact, I'll, I'll tell you, you know, there's another theory is that, uh, uh, the tariff, you make it so high, so horrible, so obnoxious that they'll come right away. When I do the 10%, 10% is really— first of all, 10% when you collect it is hundreds of billions of dollars. The numbers that you're talking, all reducing our deficit. But really, so there's two ways of looking at a tariff. You can do it as a money-making instrument, or you can do it as something to get the companies. "

And, while speaking in the town where Arnold Palmer, the famous golfer, was born, the AP reported:

"Latrobe, Pa. (AP) — Donald Trump's campaign suggested he would begin previewing his closing argument Saturday night with Election Day barely two weeks away. But the former president kicked off his rally with a detailed story about Arnold Palmer, at one point even praising the late, legendary golfer's genitalia."

You can't make this up, folks!

Today the Boston Globe endorsed Kamala Harris for President and said in part: …." that Harris has promised to be a president who leads and listens …..and can show the world that America stands for freedom, opportunity, compassion, dignity, fairness, and endless possibilities. The choice is as clear, as it is vital, send Kamala Harris to the White House."

And the Washington Zoo has Giant pandas in residence again! More TBA.

Til next week – Peace!