Trump: ‘Blood bath’ needs context

Former president says his remark applied to auto industry, not U.S.

Former President Donald Trump on Monday sought to defend his declaration over the weekend the country would face a “blood bath” if he lost in November, saying he had been referring only to the auto industry.

He made the remarks in Ohio on Saturday in a speech delivered on behalf of Bernie Moreno, whom he has endorsed in Tuesday’s Republican Senate primary.

After vowing to impose tariffs on cars manufactured outside the United States, he then said: “Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a blood bath for the whole — that’s going to be the least of it. It’s going to be a blood bath for the country.”

In the same speech, Trump called some migrants “animals” and “not people, in my opinion”; described people convicted in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol as “hostages”; and suggested American democracy would end if he lost. “I don’t think you’re going to have another election or certainly not an election that’s meaningful,” he said.

Trump has embraced violent messaging since he first ran for president, at one point telling his supporters he would pay their legal expenses if they attacked a protester at one of his rallies.

Trump and his supporters objected to blowback over his latest remarks, saying they had been taken out of context by those who ignored his references to the auto industry and decried the comments as a direct call for violence.

Many Republicans responded to Trump’s latest comments by defending him or equivocating.

But Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who voted to convict Trump in his impeachment trial after Jan. 6, said on NBC’s Meet the Press “the general tone” of Trump’s Saturday speech was “why many Americans continue to wonder, ‘Should President Trump be president?’ ”