Trump Appeared To Advocate Shooting Clinton

During a speech Tuesday, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump appeared to advocate shooting Hillary Clinton. Speaking about the prospect of Clinton having her pick of judges as president of the United States, Trump said, “If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is." Many commentators have interpreted this remark as Trump encouraging people to shoot Clinton if they disagreed with her judicial nominations.

Felix Salmon tweeted the clip of Trump's remarks, writing, "Hahahaha joking about assassinating the president, you’re so funny Mr Trump." American Bridge, a Democratic super PAC, shared the clip over Twitter as well, saying, "Donald Trump just casually alluded to shooting Hillary Clinton at a campaign rally."

While Trump has called Clinton a number of names, including "Crooked Hillary," and made headlines last week for calling her "the devil," this latest remark appears to encourage people to shoot the Democratic nominee. Such an insinuation is unprecedented for a U.S. presidential election. However, seemingly unprecedented rhetoric isn't anything new for the Trump presidential campaign (remember his various comments about Judge Gonzalo Curiel, John McCain, the Khan family, etc). Senior Huffington Post reporter Jeffrey Young may have captured it best when he predicted how a Trump surrogate would defend the seemingly outrageous remark: "Look, shooting Hillary Clinton isn't the same as killing her. Like, someone could shoot to maim!"

You can watch video of the remark below.

To a certain extent, these outrageous comments are what Trump's base seems to love about him. And the Republican nominee has a track record of walking back from his most extreme remarks and saying he meant something else, like when he said the Megyn Kelly "blood coming out of her wherever" comment wasn't a sexist insult about menstruation. However, based on the Twitter responses, Trump — and Republicans — will have a harder time walking back from this comment.

How Team Trump responds to the backlash on this one remains to be seen.