OP-ED: We Should Take Trump at His Word
The former President lies compulsively, but when he promises a “bloodbath,” we should believe him
During a recent rally in Dayton, Ohio, Donald Trump warned that if he loses in 2024, “it’s going to be a bloodbath, for the whole – that’s going to be the least of it.” This remark went viral on social media, and President Biden’s campaign condemned the statement as yet another example of Trump’s violent rhetoric.
Donald Trump’s campaign seized on this by accusing those on the left of taking this statement out of context. Steven Cheung, an advisor to Trump, said that “If you actually watch and listen to the section, he was talking about the auto industry and tariffs… Biden’s policies will create an economic bloodbath for the auto industry and autoworkers.”
Trump himself responded to the controversy on Truth Social, writing that “The Fake News Media, and their Democrat Partners in the destruction of our Nation, pretended to be shocked at my use of the word BLOODBATH, even though they fully understood that I was simply referring to imports allowed by Crooked Joe Biden.”
This incident has been leveraged by the right to accuse liberal commentators of being dishonest actors who will take Trump’s every word out of context in order to make him seem violent and unhinged. While it may be true that the “bloodbath” line isn’t the strongest example of Trump’s incendiary rhetoric, it is just one of hundreds of examples that one can point to.
Some examples:
In September of 2023, Mark Milley, Donald Trump’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was forced to take safety precautions after Trump called him a traitor who should be sentenced to death. (source)
Trump has said that police should shoot and kill shoplifters on the spot with no due process. (source)
Donald Trump has repeatedly praised dictators like Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, Viktor Orban, and even Adolf Hitler. (source)
Trump threatened that there would be “bedlam in the country” if states were allowed to kick him off the ballots. (source)
Trump has said that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country” (source)
While these statements might seem like empty threats typical of Trump’s political style, they carry far more weight in the aftermath of the January 6th Capitol attack, which was incited by President Trump in an effort to overturn the election results and retain power.
Moreover, when Trump makes threats, he usually leaves them just vague enough to create room for plausible deniability, so that if he’s ever accused of using violent rhetoric he can just say that it was taken out of context or that he didn’t mean it in the way that people suspect. Perhaps this is a calculated move on Trump’s part, who received over $4,000,000,000 in free media coverage during the 2016 election by routinely making outrageous statements, which some analysts have suggested is a contributing factor for why he won in the first place.
Trump's track record is littered with instances of inflammatory speech and actions. From his encouragement of violence against protesters at his rallies to his attempts to undermine the democratic process by spreading baseless claims of election fraud, Trump has consistently sown seeds of division and discord. His words hold weight, particularly among his fervent supporters, who may interpret his remarks as a call to action.
When Trump speaks of a "bloodbath," whether directed at the auto industry or the nation as a whole, it cannot be divorced from the atmosphere of fear and uncertainty that has characterized his presidency. His supporters, attuned to his messaging, may perceive it as a veiled threat or a signal to resort to violence if the election does not go his way. To dismiss such concerns as unfounded or exaggerated is to ignore the very real consequences of violent rhetoric in a polarized society.
In the context of Trump's long history of violent political threats, we should be cautious about Trump's rhetoric even when he can claim plausible deniability as with this "bloodbath" remark. Trump has a long history of compulsive lying, in fact, a report from The Washington Post found that he lied over 30,000 times during his first term as president. But when we examine Trump’s record of violent rhetoric and open threats, it’s clear that he’s not kidding.
I honestly don't understand how people think he is "so strong" and a "real man" ... he whines more than Cailou (don't EVER let your little ones watch it; trust me). He is a weak and insecure narcissist with a YUGE victim mentality...the biggliest victim mentality of them all!
Please, please, please understand that any violence that Trump unleashes on "Woke" targets will be a bait. What he wants and needs is for the Left (or whatever targets) to return violence with violence. Trump follows Hitler's strategies, and this is the strategy that Hitler used to dismantle German democracy. He sent his "Brown Shirts" against the Left. They responded in kind. There was brawling in the streets, and the German people said, "Do what you must but give us peace in the streets." Hitler essentially declared Martial law, started arresting his enemies, and it was all over. We know that Trump will try to follow this tactic because he follows everything Hitlerian. He uses the Big Lie, uses his same meandering, stream of consciousness rhetorical style, etc. Please, if you value the survival of our democracy and resisting fascism under Trump, the Left must exert itself to maintain complete non violence. We cannot take the bait and fight back violently. Any violent response will be used against us as it was in Germany as a pretext to arresting Hitler's opponents. I am not saying that this will be easy. It takes self-discipline, but we must and can do it if we stay unified. And I am not saying that we can or should not resist. Non violent resistance is powerful, more powerful than violent resistance. Look to the history of the Scandinavian countries who also faced fascist pressure during WWII, but responded non violently with national strikes and protests. I understand and sympathize with those whose outrage finds them advocating for violence, but they need instead to channel that into organizing and unifying and readying Americans. In many ways, that course is more difficult than a knee jerk call to violence. It takes self-discipline and calculation and organizing. But history has proven that it is the effective way if we want to win.