A Republican lawmaker tried to insist that President Donald Trump didn’t mean what he said when he told his generals they would be helping “straighten out” Democrat-led cities in response to a “war from within.”
Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, told CNN that all Trump was saying during a speech to 800 of the nation’s top military leaders was that the issue of domestic crime was just as important as national security.
His “explanation” forced host Kaitlan Collins to read the president’s own remarks back to Turner.
The administration had flown in military leaders from around the world on Tuesday to be lectured, stony-faced, by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth about personal grooming and wokeness. Trump also spoke for about an hour, complaining about his political enemies and ranting about an “invasion from within.”
The CNN exchange began when Collins asked if Turner “took issue” with the president saying that American cities should be used as training grounds for the military for future wars.
Turner sputtered and tried to put a more positive spin on Trump’s remarks.
“Well, you know, the president, you know, and the manner in which he talks in his own motivational conversations, you know, I think in application—I don’t think he’s actually meaning that that our cities are going to be training grounds,” he told Collins.
“I do think, though, as he has talked about the issue of crime in our cities being an important issue, that it is an important issue, that, on a day-to-day basis,” he added.
“Why do you think he didn’t mean that?” Collins asked, considering Trump had referenced specific Democrat-led cities and told an auditorium full of military leaders that the issue could affect “the people in this room.”
The lawmaker then gave an answer so convoluted that only a full, direct quote can do it justice.
“I think he doesn’t mean it in the manner in which you said it,” he said. “I think he certainly means it overall. He’s raised it before in the issue of public safety, and he certainly has raised it before in that manner.”
“I’m just quoting him,” Collins replied. “He said, ‘What they’ve done to San Francisco, Chicago, New York, L.A., they’re very unsafe places. And we’re going to straighten them out, one by one. And this is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room. That’s a war, too. It’s a war from within.”
“Right, it’s a common theme of his, and it certainly is an important issue,” said Turner, who still refused to address the whole “war from within” thing.
“I think [crime] is an issue that, that people know impacts our daily lives,” he said. “I think the president has rightly identified that as important. And that certainly is equally important—public safety and national security safety are equally important issues. They impact our lives daily.”
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