WASHINGTON: Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said that her Republican rival, Donald Trump incited violence when he said gun rights supporters could stop her from winning.
“Words matter, my friends. And if you are running to be president or you are president of the US, words can have tremendous consequences,” the former US secretary of state said on Wednesday while addressing a campaign rally in Des Moines, Iowa.
“Yesterday (Tuesday), we witnessed the latest in a long line of casual comments from Donald Trump that crossed the line. … Every single one of these incidences shows us that Donald Trump simply does not have the temperament to be president and commander in chief of the US,” she said.
Clinton insisted that this election cycle is not “normal”, adding that she had taken note of the fact that Republican figures and voters were joining her campaign upon deciding that Trump does not represent their values.
The New York billionaire once again found himself in the centre of controversy after telling a North Carolina political rally on Tuesday that gun rights defenders can “do something” to prevent Clinton from winning the November 8 election, a remark that has been interpreted by broad groups as a call to use violence.
Trump had said that Clinton, if elected, would “abolish” the Second Amendment to the Constitution, which establishes the right to “keep and bear arms”.
Those comments immediately sparked a firestorm of criticism of Trump both on Twitter and in the mainline communications media, and particularly among Democratic sectors, that the magnate had, in effect, issued a veiled call for violence against the former first lady.
The Democratic nominee’s campaign director, Robby Mook, reacted at the time in a statement saying “This is simple – what Trump is saying is dangerous. A person seeking to be the President of the US should not suggest violence in any way.”
Trump’s campaign, however, responded in another communique in which communications director Jason Miller said the mogul was referring to the “power of unification” in his remarks, adding that “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.”
IANS