Joe Biden’s campaign has accused his rival Donald Trump of wanting “another January 6” after the former president warned there would be an economic “bloodbath” if he loses the election.
Speaking in Ohio on Saturday to endorse GOP Senate candidate Bernie Moreno, Mr Trump told the crowd: “Now, if I don’t get elected … it’s going to be a bloodbath for the country.”
In response, the Biden-Harris campaign issued a statement, stating that Mr Trump “wants another January 6, but the American people are going to give him another electoral defeat this November because they continue to reject his extremism, his affection for violence, and his thirst for revenge”.
“This is who Donald Trump is: a loser who gets beat by over 7 million votes and then, instead of appealing to a wider mainstream audience, doubles down on his threats of political violence,” the Biden team added.
The former president’s comment came in the context of promising a “100 per cent tariff” on foreign-made cars. “You’re not going to be able to sell those guys if I get elected,” Mr Trump said at the rally.
“Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the whole – that’s gonna be the least of it. It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country. That’ll be the least of it.”
Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung dismissed that the “bloodbath” comment was related to violence, clarifying to the Washington Post that the 2024 GOP frontrunner was referring to cars made outside of the US. “If you actually watch and listen to the section, he was talking about the auto industry and tariffs,” Mr Cheung told the outlet. “Biden’s policies will create an economic bloodbath for the auto industry and auto workers,” he said.
Senior Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller said on X, emphasising that Mr Trump was talking about “the auto industry”. He added, “Crooked Joe Biden’s Insane EV Mandate will slaughter the American auto industry. So many jobs killed! That’s why we have to elect President Trump.”
Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, however, questioned what Mr Trump meant by his “bloodbath” remark. She told CNN on Sunday, “We just have to win this election because he’s even predicting a bloodbath. What does that mean? He’s going to exact a bloodbath? There’s something wrong here.”
The California Democrat said: “How respectful I am of the American people and their goodness. But how much more do they have to see from him to understand that this isn’t what our country is about.”
Meanwhile, members of Mr Trump’s party flocked to his defence. South Dakota Republican senator Mike Rounds told CNN on Sunday: “With regard to the autoworkers that he was talking to, he is showing them or he’s telling them what has been an economic downturn for them.”
Louisiana Republican senator Bill Cassidy told NBC News: “You could also look at the definition of bloodbath and it could be an economic disaster. And so if he’s speaking about the auto industry, in particular in Ohio, [that gives it] a little bit more context.”
But Mr Trump’s speech as a whole, Mr Cassidy said, begged another question: “The general tone of the speech is why many Americans continue to wonder, ‘Should President Trump be president?’ That kind of rhetoric, it’s always on the edge. Maybe doesn’t cross, maybe does, depending upon your perspective.”
At the rally, Mr Trump also escalated his attack against undocumented immigrants. “I don’t know if you call them people,” he said. “In some cases, they’re not people, in my opinion. But I’m not allowed to say that because the radical left says that’s a terrible thing to say.”
The former president has not been shy about his anti-immigrant agenda. During his 2016 presidential run, he described Mexican…
This article was originally published by a www.independent.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .