After prominent media networks took heat for running headlines that skimped on important context of former President Trump’s bloodbath comment, MSNBC, ABC News and others have seemingly doubled down on their criticism of the 2024 candidate.
Politico’s headline stated, Trump says country faces ‘bloodbath’ if Biden wins in November. An NBC News headline stated, Trump says there will be a ‘bloodbath’ if he loses the election. The headline for CBS News stated, In Ohio campaign rally, Trump says there will be a bloodbath if he loses November election.
Most headlines did not mention Trump was referring to his opinion of the state of the automotive industry should President Biden win another term.
On Sunday, Mary Bruce opened ABC World News Tonight by announcing that the Trump campaign was on the defensive after the former president had engaged in fiery rhetoric.
Trump warning while discussing the economy that there would be a quote ‘bloodbath’ if he is not re-elected in November, Bruce said.
The reporting was based on statements made by Trump during a Saturday rally in Ohio, where he mentioned putting tariffs on Chinese-made cars that China would sell to Americans.
We’re going to put a 100% tariff on every single car that comes across the line, and [China’s] not going to be able to sell those cars if I get elected, he said.
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 will be the least of it. But they’re not going to sell those cars. They’re building massive factories, Trump added.
The Biden-Harris campaign later released a statement slamming Trump for his words, accusing him of speaking about actual violence rather than economic consequences.
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, it said. He 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.
While several media networks have acknowledged that Trump was speaking about car manufacturing in America when referring to a hypothetical bloodbath, pundits are continuing to suggest Trump’s language had a dangerous subtext.
