Trump warns of ‘bloodbath’ in auto industry if he loses, says violent migrants are ‘not people’ but ‘animals’
Former President Donald Trump painted a dark picture of the spate of migrants pouring into the US and ominously appeared to predict a “bloodbath” in the auto industry if he is not reelected.
During a riff about foreign policy, Trump, 77, insinuated that some countries have prisons “teeming” with violent MS-13 Mexican gang members that they are dumping into the US
“I would do the same thing. If I had prisons that were teeming with MS-13 and all sorts of people … if you call them people. I don’t know if you call them people,” Trump said during a rally in Dayton, Ohio on Saturday.
“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 45th president later added, “These are animals okay? And we have to stop it. We can’t have another Laken [Riley],” he said, using his oft-repeated phrase for violent immigrants.
Trump’s remarks came as his campaign continued to try to tie the ballooning migrant crisis to violent crime, which has in fact declined across the country over the past two years as border crossings swelled.
The presumptive GOP nominee delivered the speech while stumping for Republican Ohio Senate hopeful Bernie Moreno ahead of the primary contest that takes place on Tuesday.
Critics quickly seized on his rhetoric, suggesting he was dehumanizing illegal immigrants. They also latched onto his remarks about a “bloodbath” in the auto industry if he loses in November.
“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. Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the whole — that’s going to be the least of it,” Trump fumed.
“It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country, that’ll be the least of it. But they’re not going to sell those cars.”
That line drew biting headlines of Trump warning of a “bloodbath” if he doesn’t win reelection. President Biden’s campaign quickly denounced those remarks.
“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,” Biden-Harris Spokesperson James Singer said in a statement.
“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.”
Trump’s allies quickly jumped to his defense, adamant that he was merely talking about potential devastation to the auto industry if he loses in November, rather than a violent uproar generally.
“Joe Biden is allowing China to take over the car industry and Americans are being laid off left and right. It is an economic disaster that only President Donald Trump can turn around,” Alex Pfeiffer, spokesman for Make America Great Again Inc said.
Throughout his lengthy, roughly 90-minute-long speech, Trump also bemoaned the death of Riley, the 22-year-old nursing student who was killed by a suspected illegal immigrant from Venezuela.
“Not one more American life should be lost to migrant crime. We can’t have another Laken,” Trump declared. “When I’m President of the United States, we will demand justice for Laken on day one. My administration will terminate every open border policy of the Biden administration.”
“The fastest way to reverse every single Biden disaster is to very simply just put me back in office.”
In keeping with a tradition on the campaign stump, Trump read “The Snake” poem as a warning about the ramifications of a porous border.
He mused that “your Social Security will be destroyed by the people coming in.”
Trump also tore into his 2024 rival, saying, “Remember this, Joe Biden is a great threat to our democracy.”
“He’s a tremendous threat to our democracy. His incompetence is the number one reason. Also, he uses the Justice Department, the FBI, to go after his political opponent, which happens to be me,” Trump claimed.
Biden’s administration, namely FBI director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland have been adamant that their teams are not allowed to politically target individuals.
The rally comes as Buckeye State Republicans are set to make their big decision in one of the most competitive Senate races in the country.
Ohio is one of the states where Republicans feel that have strong prospects of flipping the seat red. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) is vying for reelection.
Trump-endorsed Morena is squaring off against state Sen. Matt Dolan and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose.
