Make America Great Again Inc., the super PAC backing former President Donald Trump, on Friday slammed Hillary Clinton, his 2016 presidential campaign opponent, after she called for a "formal deprogramming" of his supporters, who she called "cult members."
"President Trump has said countless times that they are only coming after him because he stands in their way from coming after you — and Hillary Clinton just confirmed that to be true," MAGA Inc. spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. "Tens of millions of Americans will reject the Democrat Party's re-education camp agenda in November 2024 when we make Donald Trump the 47th President of the United States."
Clinton, in remarks during an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour that will air Monday, said Trump will likely be the GOP nominee in 2024 but that President Joe Biden can defeat him.
Clinton also discussed the ouster of now-former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, strongly denouncing the conservatives who led the vote.
"We had very strong partisans in both parties in the past, and we had very bitter battles over all kinds of things: gun control, and climate change, and the economy, and taxes," Clinton told Amanpour. "But there wasn't this little tail of extremism wagging the dog of the Republican Party as it is today, and sadly, so many of those extremists, those MAGA extremists, take their marching orders from Donald Trump, who has no credibility left by any measure.
"He's only in it for himself. He's now defending himself in civil actions and criminal actions, and when do they break with him? Because at some point, maybe there needs to be a formal deprogramming of the cult members. But something needs to happen."
Clinton also questioned why the choice between Biden and Trump should be difficult.
"One will wreck our democracy," she said. "One violates the law on a regular basis. One appeals to the worst in our collective psyche. The other gets things done."
Clinton further praised Biden, saying he's done a "fantastic job," and said that Trump, as the "alternative" winner, "could end our democracy, and I don't say that lightly."
Clinton said McCarthy's ouster came as a punishment for pushing through a 45-day continuing resolution to keep the government open with the help of Democrats, and she referred to Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who Trump has endorsed as speaker, as "one of the principal ringleaders of the circus" in the GOP.
"At some point, there needs to be a backlash against the control that this small group of extremists have," Clinton said. "I don't know who will lead that, but let's hope whoever becomes the new speaker will."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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