Rep. Peter King (R-NY) said Wednesday that Donald Trump’s Tuesday comment about “Second Amendment people” was a “mistake” that the GOP nominee should “absolutely” take back.
“I think he should just say, listen. I did not mean that,” King said in an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” calling Trump’s remark “the type of comment that a presidential candidate should not make.”
He went on to suggest that Trump might not have understood the implications of his comment. “I don’t think he even fully appreciated what he was saying,” King said, calling Trump’s remark an “over the shoulder remark” and a “mistake in comment” rather than a serious suggestion.
When asked by MSNBC co-anchor Willie Geist what he meant by an “over the shoulder remark,” King changed the subject.
“Are you saying was he negligent in saying it? Absolutely,” he said. “He should take it back.”
But when MSNBC host Joe Scarborough later asked King if he thought Trump was fit to govern, King was unequivocal in his support.
“Do you think he has the temperament to be the commander in chief?” Scarborough pressed.
“Yes, I do,” King replied.
During a rally on Tuesday afternoon, Trump suggested that gun owners could take out Clinton if she is elected president.
“If she gets to pick her judges,” he said, “nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is.”
His comment provoked wide backlash. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), Hillary Clinton’s vice presidential running mate, said that the remark revealed a “complete temperamental misfit” between Trump and the requirements of the presidency.
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) dismissed Trump’s comment as “just a joke gone bad,” but one that Trump should clear up “very quickly.”
Trump spokespersons and supporters were quick to spin his remark, claiming that it was a reference to the voting power of gun owners. Trump repeated this explanation later the same day, saying that there was “no other interpretation.”
h/t Politico
