Former President Donald J. Trump on Monday tried to defend his weekend statement that the country would face a “bloodbath” if he lost in November, saying – as he did during his campaign – that he was focusing only on the auto industry related.
“The fake news media and their Democratic partners in destroying our nation acted as if they were shocked by my use of the word BLOODBATH, even though they fully understood that I was simply referring to imports that crooked Joe Biden allowed had and which are deadly “the automotive industry,” he wrote on his social media platform.
He made the remark Saturday in a speech in Ohio that he delivered on behalf of Bernie Moreno, whom he supported in Tuesday’s Republican Senate primary. After vowing to impose tariffs on cars made outside the United States, he then said: “If I don’t get elected now, it will be a bloodbath for the whole thing – that will be the least of it.” It will be a bloodbath for the country be.”
President Biden’s re-election campaign responded in a statement that Mr. Trump was “a loser who gets beaten by over seven million votes and then, instead of appealing to a broader mainstream audience, doubles down on his threats of political violence.”
In the same speech, Mr. Trump called migrants “animals” and “in my opinion not people”; described people convicted in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol as “hostages”; and suggested that American democracy would end if he lost. “I don’t think there will be another election, certainly not a meaningful election,” he said.
The next morning, Fox News broadcast an interview with Mr. Trump in which he repeated his previous claims that migrants were “poisoning the blood” of the country.
On Monday, Trump followed up his social media post defending his comments with a message in all caps: “Our once-great country is going down the drain. We are a nation in decline! Vote for Trump, what the hell do you have to lose?”
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2024-03-18 14:21:02
www.nytimes.com
