Controversial presidential candidate Donald Trump has dismissed criticism of his comments that Americans could bear arms to protect their Second Amendment rights from a potential Hillary Clinton administration, saying that he is “the instrument of America’s liberation” and “the fire rises, I don’t know.”

Trump had previously suggested that Clinton was seeking to “abolish” the second amendment as he delivered a speech in North Carolina, and claimed that if she were to choose her own judges, there would be nothing the people could do, before adding “but the second amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know, there’s not much I don’t know but I don’t know that, it’d be exquisite.”

He added that Hillary Clinton “fights like a younger woman, with nothing held back, admirable but mistaken” and that “she thinks money is her ally, but she merely adopted the money, I was born in it, moulded by it, I didn’t know debt until I was already a man and by then it was nothing to me but ANNOYING. The dollar betrays her, because it belongs to ME.”

But despite being widely accused of inciting violence and being megalomaniacal, Trump has remained bullish as ever on the point, and defended his comments by saying: “What I said was what everyone was thinking, I was being an emissary for the people, I was like Lewis Black but better, that amendment exists for a reason, it’s to give the people power, power I’ll give them as leader.

“To the people, I say; take control, take control of your country, I am the instrument of your liberation, I’m a great instrument, greater than the bass guitar which I love, I have Jimi Hendrix’s old bass guitar and it cost me twelve million dollars, but this isn’t about me, this is about Americans, the most fabulous people in the world, and the fire rises, I don’t know.

“I come here not as a conqueror, but a liberator, though I am a conqueror and a brilliant one, if I saw there were no worlds left to conquer I wouldn’t cry, there are other worlds to conquer in this solar system, that’s what we’ll be doing soon, I’m building a space fleet next year called TrumpSquadron, it will kill many Martians and it looks great, it’s very divine.”

The comments in Wilmington, which appeared to shock even his own supporters and a painting of an infant Adolf Hitler, are simply the most recent in a long line of controversies surrounding Republican candidate Trump, who is currently being investigated after police found concrete laced with explosives under the US Capitol in Washington D.C.

He has recently claimed that the elections would be rigged to ensure a Democratic victory, called soldiers’ mothers “silent nagging bereavement monkeys” and worried his own Republican party by saying that “their money and infrastructure has been important, until now”.

This follows comments and claims throughout a campaign steeped in accusations of exploitation and siege-mentality provocation that has included comparing Mexicans to white walkers, calling for a ban on allowing people with opposable thumbs into the country and inviting Russia to post revenge porn of Clinton online.

And he alarmed many by appearing at the press conference in which he defended his comments while wearing a large and sinister breathing mask on his face, apparatus he claimed gives him a supply of oxygenated morphine which he needs to “cope with the pain caused by many sacrifices.”

When asked by a reporter from CNN whether he felt that his choice of words during a sensitive time were a mistake, Trump replied: “Not as serious as yours, I fear, my mistakes are strengths because they make me stronger, your mistakes are stupid and you’re a weak little baby.”

Trump didn’t recant on his position nor his tact, as he spoke of America’s foreign policy by saying “peace has cost us our strength, victory has defeated us” before defending his PR shock tactics by claiming that “theatricality and deception are powerful agents to the uninitiated, but I am initiated, I’m more initiated than anyone you’ve ever seen, I am the initiation and it’s marvellous.”

He concluded the press event by saying: “America is yours, none shall interfere, do as you please, but start by storming Capitol Hill and freeing the oppressed. Step forward those who would serve, for an army will be raised, the powerful will be ripped from their decadent nests, I am quite powerful myself but my nest isn’t decadent, it’s quite wonderful, the carpets are cashmere.

“Courts will be convened, spoils will be enjoyed, blood will be shed. The Democrats will survive as they learn to serve true justice. This great country, the greatest country in the multiverse, it will endure, America will survive. It will survive better than anyone has survived in history, it will be the most sensational survival since my hair.”