Trump's "bloodbath" is real
Donald Trump and his campaign tried to clarify that when he said recently there would be a "bloodbath" if he loses the election, he was referring to the auto industry and a tariff war with China. The "claritcation" does not erase his history of xenophobic, incendiary, and violent rhetoric.
Trump is a case of "create a reputation and lie down to sleep" because it wouldn't be strange for him to say something like that. Moreover, the speech in Ohio where he uttered the phrase was a dark and fatalistic one where he referred to immigrants as "animals" and declared that if he loses the election, democracy will come to an end. "If we don't win this election, I think there will not be another election in this country," said Trump.
Likewise, he described the convicts of the bloody coup attempt on January 6, 2021, at the federal Capitol, which we all witnessed live and in color, but which according to Trump and his fans was a product of our collective imagination, as "hostages and incredible patriots."
In fact, the attack on the Capitol, instigated by Trump with the lie that the 2020 election was "stolen" from him, which Joe Biden won, was itself a bloodbath. There is ongoing fear of what might happen if Trump loses the elections.
In his speech, Trump intensited his attacks against immigrants. "I don't know if they can be called people. I think in some cases they are not people... they are animals," he stated. He has also intensited the rhetoric that immigrants are "poisoning the blood" of the country, in the best tradition of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.
It is a serious mistake not to take seriously the threats of Trump and his virulent language against immigrants, as he has already demonstrated with facts the extremes he can reach in four years of presidency and then, after losing reelection, by trying to steal it by intimidating o6cials and forcing his former Vice President, Mike Pence, to avoid certifying Biden's win. It was Pence's refusal that led to the assault on the Capitol.
Against immigrants, there is a long list of extremist policies, from the so-called Muslim ban to the separation of families at the border and losing track of minors who have not been returned to their parents. These and other measures were stopped in courts, but Trump and his team have had enough time to retne mechanisms that allow them to revive and implement them and start others, such as his promise of detention camps and mass deportations.
But it is also a serious mistake to think that because one is not an immigrant, there is nothing to fear from a potential return of Trump to the White House. Those who think his attacks will be limited to the undocumented underestimate him. He is a person who, as president, treated the Department of Justice as if it were his personal law Trm. An individual facing 91 charges in four judicial cases and seeking revenge against those who, according to him, have "unjustly persecuted" him.
Thus, it would not be surprising if in a second term, Trump seeks mechanisms to at least intimidate political opponents, media, or even organizations and institutions that are uncomfortable for him. This is how autocrats act, like those Trump admires.
If not, look at his "takeover" of the Republican National Committee (RNC) before being o6cially nominated, placing relatives and allies who promote his ideas of "electoral fraud."
With or without claritcation, Trump already instigated a bloodbath on January 6, 2021. Nothing has changed. On the contrary, he acts more emboldened. His strategy continues to focus on demonizing immigrants to stir up his base or those who are troubled by the situation at the border. But his threat goes further. He is already invoking "electoral fraud" to undermine conTdence in the system, and it is our own democracy that can suffer the consequences. (America’s Voice)