WASHINGTON: Former US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that there would be a “bloodbath” in the country if he is not reelected in the upcoming presidential election.
Speaking to his supporters during a rally at Dayton International Airport in Vandalia, Ohio, Trump touched on “the possibility of an increasing trade war with China over auto manufacturing,” according to NBC News.
The rally aimed to mobilize support for Republican Senate contender Bernie Moreno, who received Trump’s endorsement in December, ahead of Ohio’s upcoming primary on Tuesday, the broadcaster reported.
“If you’re listening, President Xi — and you and I are friends — but he understands the way I deal,” Trump said.
“Those big monster car manufacturing plants that you’re building in Mexico right now… you’re going to not hire Americans and you’re going to sell the cars to us, no.
“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 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,” he warned.
“It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country. That will be the least of it,” he underlined, adding, “But they’re not going to sell those cars. They’re building massive factories.”
He noted that he is not even sure if the US will have any more elections in the future unless he is elected president.
In response to President Joe Biden’s remarks, a Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told NBC News: “Biden’s policies will create an economic bloodbath for the auto industry and auto workers.”
‘Hostages’
Trump again referred to those imprisoned for crimes related to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack as “hostages.”
“They’ve been treated terribly and very unfairly, and you know that and everybody knows that,” he said at the start of his speech.
“And we’re going to be working on that as soon as the first day we get into office, we’re going to save our country, and we’re going to work with the people to treat those unbelievable patriots,” he emphasized.
During the rally, the former president also remarked that some undocumented immigrants are “not people,” but clarified later that he was “not allowed to say that because the radical left says it’s a terrible thing to say.”
He also suggested Catholics not to vote for Joe Biden, the second Roman Catholic president in history. “Any Catholic that votes for this numbskull is crazy because you are being persecuted.”
‘Extremism, affection for violence, thirst for revenge’
James Singer, a spokesperson for Biden’s campaign, also wrote on X: “After opening the general election by meeting with authoritarian leaders and rallying alongside conspiracy theorists, Donald Trump continues to praise dictators, promise to pardon political violence, and launch racist attacks against Black and brown Americans.”
“It’s why last night, Trump’s own former Vice President Mike Pence who Trump supporters called to hang for not overturning the election, came out against Trump,” he shared, recalling Pence’s last announcement about refusing to endorse Trump in November.
“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.
“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.”
