Donald Trump warned a crowd in Dayton, Ohio on Saturday that if he loses the 2024 election, it will result in a “bloodbath” for both the U.S. auto industry and the nation as a whole. His team was quick to explain that the phrase was meant to be taken in the appropriate context as an economic bloodbath. But as Jen Psaki pointed out Sunday, the only context needed is that Trump said what he said, and he meant it.
As she put it, “This embrace of political violence, this dehumanizing language, is what Donald Trump has been preaching for years.”
Psaki referenced Trump’s warning in January that if the criminal cases against him result in him losing the 2024 presidential election, “It’ll be bedlam in the country. It’s a very bad thing. It’s a very bad precedent. As we said, it’s the opening of a Pandora’s box.” She also pointed at his November 2023 use of the word “vermin” to describe his political opponents. His choice of phrase drew comparisons to Hitler.
It doesn’t stop there. “During his first term, he flat out refused to condemn the political violence at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, saying there were ‘very fine people on both sides,’” Psaki continued. “In 2020, he reportedly asked his defense secretary about shooting people who were protesting the death of George Floyd, saying, ‘Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something.’”
“We all know by now that Trump’s allusions to political violence are not merely rhetorical His supporters take them literally, and that’s part of the big problem here,” Psaki said. “And he knows that too. So no, we did not miss the full context.”
The topic was also discussed on Sunday’s episode of “This Week” on ABC. Host Martha Raddatz pointed out that Trump’s comments were made while he was speaking about the auto industry and foreign vehicles, something that Rep. Mike Turner seized upon. Turner said, “I think, certainly, there are statements that he makes that, you know, many Americans would not agree with, and many Americans would agree with it.”
When pressed on Trump’s use of the word “animals” to describe immigrants in the same speech, Turner said, “Well, I, of course, have disagreed with those in the past. I think the American public disagrees with those. But I do think that people see that Donald Trump is the only candidate in this race that’s going to be able to fix this crisis [at the U.S.-Mexico border].”
Watch Jen Psaki’s breakdown of Trump’s comments in the video at the top of this story.
