President Trump says Speaker Pelosi and her husband Paul Pelosi are among those he considers to be “the enemy within” who are a greater threat to America than foreign adversaries like Russia and China. 

During a televised town hall with Fox News in Georgia, Trump referred to the former speaker as “so sick and so evil” when he was asked to respond to criticism he has faced for hinting that he would prosecute Democrats and those who don’t support him should he return to the White House. 

“It is the enemy from within and they’re very dangerous. They’re Marxists and Communists and fascists,” Trump said after Fox News host Harris Faulkner played a video of Trump’s remarks about “the enemy within” during an interview over the weekend. 

He referred to his domestic enemies like Congressman Adam Schiff, who was the lead Democrat on the first impeachment investigation into Trump back in 2019. 

“They’re dangerous for our country. We have China, we have Russia … If you have a smart president they can all be handled,” he said. 

“The more difficult are the Pelosis [and] these people that are so sick and so evil. If they would spend their time trying to make America great again … it would be so easy,” he added. 

Trump claimed he was not “threatening” anyone, however. 

“They’re the threat to democracy,” he declared. 

Vice President Harris has been leaning into the message that Trump would pose a unique threat to Americans’ civil rights and civil liberties should he return to the White House. “Listen to his words. He tells us who he is and he tells us what he would do if he is elected president. So here tonight I will show you one example of Donald Trump’s worldview and intentions,” Ms. Harris said at a rally in Pennsylvania on Monday. “Please roll the clip.”

The vice president’s team then played a montage of Trump describing Democrats and other political opponents as the “enemy within” who “should be put in jail.”

She also played a video where Trump called for “one really violent day … one rough hour, and I mean real rough.”

Governor Walz, too, is leaning into the message that Trump is a threat. “Donald Trump over the weekend was talking about using the U.S. Army against people who disagree with him. Just so you’re clear about that — that’s you,” Mr. Walz said at an event with volunteers on Monday. “I tell you that not to make you fearful or anything — I tell you that because we need to whip his butt and put this guy behind us.”

Trump has called for a more aggressive federal response to crime, protests, and immigration — both legal and illegal — by using the American military and national guard units across the country to achieve his aims. During his town hall in Georgia, Trump said all he had to do was “sign an executive order” to get it done. 

In recent days, he has promised to invoke the Alien Enemies Act in order to deputize both federal and state troops to arrest, detain, and deport millions of migrants currently living in America. The last time a president deployed those powers was President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941 when he ordered the deportation of Italian, German, and Japanese citizens in response to the bombing of Pearl Harbor.