Vance pressed on Trump's 'enemy from within' rhetoric, accusations from former Trump allies: 4 key moments

WASHINGTON – Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, was pressed on former President Donald Trump's attacks against "the enemy from within" and accusations of fascism from the former president's one-time allies during a string of tense interviews.

The conversations came after Trump's former White House chief of staff John Kelly told The New York Times he believes Trump has no understanding of the Constitution or the rule of law – and that the former president fits the bill for a fascist.

Vance hit back at the comments Sunday. He accused Kelly and other former Trump officials – who have since criticized the former president – of coming into office thinking they could "control" him but wound up being fired.

"They all turned on Donald Trump," Vance told CNN's Jake Tapper.

But the vice presidential nominee also addressed Trump's repeated attacks against what he calls the nation's "enemies." Trump told Fox News earlier this month that, "if really necessary," he believes the military should be called to deal with “radical-left lunatics” and “the enemy from within" in the event of election-related unrest.

Here are USA TODAY's key moments from Vance's combative conversations.

Vance asked about fascism accusations

Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democrats are stressing criticism from former Trump administration officials who allege the former president would gut the democratic process if he gets back to the White House.

Kelly told the Times that Trump "certainly falls into the general definition of fascist;" Mark Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told author Bob Woodward that the former president is "the most dangerous person ever ... I realize he's a total fascist."

On CNN, Vance dismissed the critics as disgruntled employees who wanted to push Trump into military conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere.

"The fundamental disagreement they have with Donald Trump is even though they say that they’re conservative, they’re conservative in the sense that they want America to get involved in a ton of ridiculous military conflicts,” Vance claimed.

The Ohio senator argued with CNN's Tapper, who disagreed with the idea that officials like former Vice President Mike Pence ever thought they could "control" Trump. At one point, Tapper asked: "Are you running to be vice president of the United States, or are you running to be vice president of the red states?"

Former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., one of Trump's most vocal critics who has hit the campaign trail with Harris, noted on CNN that Vance himself, before his political career, was harshly critical of Trump.

"What we just watched is what it looks like when someone has got to go through just unbelievable contortions to try to find a way to defend the person that J.D. Vance himself called America's Hitler," Cheney said.

Vance in a 2016 message to a friend wrote that he went "back and forth" on believing that Trump could be "America's Hitler." Trump's running mate has said he changed his mind during the former president's term in office.

'The enemy from within'

Trump has also cited the possibility of using the military to address "the enemy from within," a term he's used broadly in recent weeks in reference to people from violent protesters to prominent Democratic officials and others.

On CNN, Vance said Trump was referring to "far left lunatics" who "burn down our cities" and denied that the former president would try to use force against individuals like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

"What he said, and I do agree with this – what he said is that the biggest threat we have in our country, it’s not a foreign adversary, because we can handle these guys. We can handle foreign conflicts” he added on NBC's "Meet The Press."

Vance called political threats on the left a bigger threat than foreign adversaries. He cited Harris and Pelosi on issues like regression of the U.S. industrial base and border security.

"The fact that Americans have a wide-open southern border, that's a way bigger threat than any foreign threat," Vance said on NBC. "And, yes, it's caused by broken leadership."

Gender gap

Polls show a deadlocked race, although they also show a major gender gap among voters.

In the latest USA TODAY/Suffolk University national poll, women backed Harris, 53% to 36%. That's a mirror image of men's overwhelming support for Trump, 53% to 37%. If those margins hold until Election Day, it would be the biggest disparity since a gender gap emerged more than four decades ago, in 1980.

Vance told CBS on Sunday he does not believe that Republicans have a "women problem," and their domestic and foreign policies are better for all Americans, regardless of gender.

"We have to make our best case to women and to men as well as we can," Vance said.

Abortion rights have been one of the central issues of the 2024 race for the White House. Other reproductive rights, such as in vitro fertilization access, have also been top of mind for voters across the country in the first presidential election since the Supreme Court in 2022 overturned Roe v. Wade.

While Harris laid out specific policies in an appeal to male voters, but it's not clear how effective the proposals have been as Trump has made inroads with men, particularly Black and Latino men.

Putin and war in Ukraine

Vance sat for the string of interviews amid news that Russia is again interfering in the election via false statements and fake photos on the Internet.

For example, the FBI and the director of national intelligence announced Friday that Russia is behind a fake video that shows some ripping up ballots in Pennsylvania, a key battleground state.

Vance during his appearance on "Meet the Press" declined to call Russian President Vladimir Putin an "enemy" of the United States, instead saying “I think that he’s clearly an adversary. He is a competitor.”

“But I think that we also have to be smart about diplomacy, too,” Vance added “Just because we don’t like somebody, doesn’t mean that we can’t occasionally engage in conversations with them."

Vance's response comes as the Republican ticket has spent months criticizing NATO. Trump earlier this year said he might not come to the aid of European nations if they're attacked by Russia ? and might even "encourage" Russians "to do whatever the hell they want" if those countries aren't meeting their financial commitments to the defense alliance.

Vance also said sanctions against Russia have been ineffective, but he didn't specify how a potential Trump-Vance administration would change them.

"What we should do is encourage our fellow Americans to be careful," Vance said on CBS. "Don't trust everything that you see on social media. And of course, we should push back where appropriate."

The latter is a big question, he added: "What is an appropriate response to a country making social media videos? I'm not going to make a commitment to that sitting right here."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Vance pressed on Trump 'enemy from within' rhetoric in tense interview