Donald Trump Meant AUTO INDUSTRY Will Be Bloodbath If He Loses, Stop Misunderstanding His Nuance!
A bloodbath ... with votes!
Donald Trump has a long, long, long, long, long, long, loooooong history of using violent and apocalyptic language to describe not just the state of America, but also what his bath-salts-gobbling cult will do to America if he is not acquitted/elected/revered as some sort of god/granted a separate Mt. Rushmore with his face on it all to himself.
So when he used the word “bloodbath” in a rally speech in Ohio on Saturday, no one needed to give him the benefit of the doubt by shrieking, “WELL ACTUALLY, he was talking about the auto industry, libtards!”
And yet here we are, with pundit after politician after anti-anti-Trumper scolding the media for taking these comments out of context:
“We’re going to put a 100% tariff on every single car that comes across the line, and you’re not going to be able to sell those guys if I get elected. 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.”
These remarks got widely reported by the media as Trump saying the country would see a bloodbath if he loses in November. Which naturally led to the syphilitic howler monkeys of the right screaming He was talking about cars! Bad media! That’s a very bad media!
For example, there was Milquetoast Mike Pence, giving Trump the benefit of the doubt in the same appearance in which he made it clear he will not be endorsing the guy, by saying he “was clearly talking about the impact of imports devastating the American automotive industry.”
Or this, from Politico:
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” […] said he was dubious about the uproar over Trump’s language Saturday.
“You could also look at the definition of bloodbath and it could be an economic disaster,” he said Sunday morning. “And so if he’s speaking about the auto industry, in particular in Ohio, then you can take it a little bit more context.”
We are taking the comments in context, except our context is that we have been listening to Donald Trump pull this same shtick for nine years. Specifically, he makes some insane comment implying that America is a dystopian hellscape on the brink of apocalyptic threat from enemies both within and without. Then he tells his audience only he can save them. Then when interviewers ask him further what he means, he can say something like, I was talking about the Sims, which my son Barron loves to play because he’s good with cyber, and when I said that all your children will die, I was talking about all your children in your Sims worlds, because Sims Joe Biden will let them all get killed in their beds.
Michael Tomasky at The New Republic gives a good explanation of exactly what President Brainworms was doing here:
So: Did Trump call for a bloodbath if he loses? No. However: Did Trump stop himself mid-sentence to broaden his indictment and deliberately use a phrase—not once but two times, for emphasis—that is ambiguous, open to dark interpretation? He most certainly did.
Yes, exactly. Trump started off saying what would happen to the auto industry would be a “bloodbath.” Then he said that would be the “least of it,” which, in the context of every other time he’s pulled this routine, could be him suggesting that America would descend into lawlessness if he loses the election, while giving himself a bit of plausible deniability.
It also gave him the opportunity to play his favorite role of wounded and misunderstood brain genius on Truth Social later:
As Tomasky also points out at TNR, the auto industry under Joe Biden is actually doing way better than it ever did under Donald Trump. And the economic effects on America if Trump started a trade war by slapping 100 percent tariffs on anything, let alone imported vehicles, are not something anyone wants to contemplate.
In fact, the only industry we can think of that has thrived thanks to Donald Trump is that of defense lawyers.
Can you imagine if Joe Biden used the word “bloodbath” in a way that could be construed as him threatening the public? House Republicans would have the impeachment articles drawn up before he left the stage. The media would bombard Karine Jean-Pierre with questions about it at the daily press briefing. Peter Doocy’s orgasm would break the Richter scale.
We don’t even really have to imagine, because we still remember the screamfest that ensued when Barack Obama told voters in 2016, “Don’t boo, vote! Voting is the best revenge.”
Anyway, take Trump seriously, not literally, blah blah blah. Because that’s exactly how he wants you to take it.
[CNN / POLITICO / New Republic]
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He sort of lost the benefit of the doubt when he refused to concede an election and raised a violent mob to storm the Capitol building... the CAPITOL BUILDING... to MURDER CONGRESS AND THE VICE PRESIDENT (HIS OWN GODDAMNED VICE PRESIDENT) FOR NOT PISSING ON THE CONSTITUTION AND MAKING HIM PRESIDENT AGAIN WHEN HE FUCKING LOST! SO DO NOT LECTURE ME ON THE FUCKING NEED FOR CONTEXT BECAUSE THAT IS THE GODDAMNED CONTEXT OF HIS REMARKS. HE WILL NEVER CONCEDE WHEN HE LOSES AND THIS TIME HE WANTS HIS ENTITLED PIECES OF SHIT TO MAKE THE STREETS RUN RED WITH BLOOD, YOU DISINGEOUS LYING MOTHERFUCKERS.
My name is Bond.
Cantafforda Bond.