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Comment by truth on August 15, 2016 at 10:27am

Donald TrumpDonald TrumpSteve King explains comments about working with Clinton Apple CEO consulted Bill Clinton before testimony Will Congress allow GSA to adopt illegal anti-small business policies MORE and the National Rifle Association have formed a tight alliance.

Even as high-profile Republicans distance themselves from their presidential nominee, the NRA is sticking its neck out for Trump.

It did so most recently on Tuesday, defending Trump after he made a remark about “Second Amendment people” taking action against Hillary ClintonHillary Rodham Clinton'You have right to be believed' edited out of Clinton website Steve King explains comments about working with Clinton 3 things every presidential candidate must do to win MORE.

While critics accused Trump of inciting violence, NRA spokeswoman Jennifer Baker told The Boston Globe that Trump’s comment was only a “call to action for people who care about this issue to get to the polls.”

“There is something Second Amendment supporters can do,” Baker told the Globe. “All Americans who value their individual right to self protection must vote for Donald Trump and defeat Hillary Clinton.”

Trump and the NRA have been tight since May, when the gun rights group, known as the most powerful lobbying organization in Washington, offered an unusually early endorsement of the Republican nominee.

The alliance might seem strange at a glance.

Trump is a New York billionaire who once supported the federal assault weapon ban and a longer waiting period on gun purchases.

But allies of Trump and the NRA itself say the alliance makes sense for the nation’s most powerful lobbying group given the alternative: a Clinton presidency.

“I think they regard the election of Hillary Clinton as a mortal threat to the Second Amendment,” said former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), an ally of Trump, in a telephone interview with The Hill on Wednesday.

The NRA has also stepped up financially for Trump with a $3 million ad campaign to back him and oppose his Democratic rival.