Donald Trump's campaign says his Second Amendment joke was actually about unity

Donald Trump's campaign claimed that his incendiary comments about "Second Amendment people" and Hillary Clinton were actually comments about unity.

(Image credit: Sara D. Davis/Getty Images)

published 9 August 2016

Speaking from Wilmington, North Carolina, on Tuesday, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump suggested that perhaps "Second Amendment people" could prevent Hillary Clinton from picking Supreme Court judges. The comment set off widespread outcry over what many believed was an extraordinarily inappropriate, and even threatening, suggestion.

"This is simple — what Trump is saying is dangerous. A person seeking to be the president of the United States should not suggest violence in any way," Clinton's campaign manager Robby Mook said in a statement.

Trump's campaign responded to the controversy by publishing a "statement on dishonest media," in which communications adviser Jason Miller claimed that the comment had been meant to imply unification, not anything more sinister. "Second Amendment people have amazing spirit and are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power. And this year, they will be voting in record numbers, and it won't be for Hillary Clinton, it will be for Donald Trump," he said.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.

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