Political commentators and mainstream journalists are apoplectic over remarks former president Donald Trump made at a rally in Ohio over the weekend. Speaking to supporters on behalf of Ohio Senate candidate Bernie Moreno, Trump warned that if President Joe Biden is reelected in November the auto industry would face a “bloodbath.’”
“We’re gonna put a 100 percent tariff on every single car that comes across the line, and you’re not gonna 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 going to be the least of it,” he said. “It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country.”
The context makes clear the former president was using “bloodbath” to refer to the political and economic consequences of electing his challenger. That didn’t stop his critics from accusing him of using the language of dictators and threatening the country with violence if he loses the election. The Biden campaign quickly seized on the comments and cut an ad capitalizing on them as proof their opponent hates democracy and loves violence.
Biden campaign spokesman James Singer accused Trump of doubling “down on his threats of political violence,” saying, “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.”
Media reporters and pundits followed the Biden team’s lead, suggesting “bloodbath” was part of a larger trend of violent rhetoric.
“Mr. Trump has embraced violent messaging since he first ran for president,” New York Times reporter Maggie Astor wrote in response to the remarks.
The Nation’s Jeet Heer described the bloodbath remark as “one more ingredient in a toxic mix” and “fascist bile.” Rex Huppke at USA Today alleged it “wasn’t even the most dangerous thing he said all weekend,” Rolling Stone used the description “near-apocalyptic” while the Washington Post’s Aaron Blake said the real context is that “Trump has repeatedly invoked the prospect of actual violence by his supporters while speaking about similar circumstances.”
The media used another one of Trump’s rally comments to justify their ire; when speaking about the violent El Salvador gang MS-13, the former president described them as “animals” and mused about whether they could even be considered human. This gang uses the motto “kill, rape, control” and their victims are often found decapitated or missing limbs. But media outlets sanitized Trump’s rhetorical target and said he was talking about “some migrants” or “some undocumented immigrants” instead of specifically murderous gang members.
-Amber Duke
On our radar
MODEL AID Vice President Kamala Harris’s stepdaughter, Ella Emhoff, is publicly raising money for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency after the United States cut aid to the group because some of its members allegedly participated in the October 7 terror attacks against Israel.
PUTIN’S PUPPET? Former president Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox News that Russian president Vladimir Putin “probably” killed opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
ST PADDY’S AT THE WHITE HOUSE President Joe Biden invited Catholic leaders and more than thirty members of the Kennedy family to the White House on Sunday to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was notably not in attendance.
Kellyanne Conway wants a GOP abortion makeover
Kellyane Conway has a long career in Republican politics. She built a prosperous polling firm, became the first woman to manage a successful presidential campaign and served as a senior counselor to Trump once he took office. What she says carries some weight.
And lately, she’s been saying a lot when it comes to the party’s position on abortion.
At Politico’s Health Care Summit last Wednesday, Conway deep dived into why she believes Republicans should rethink their messaging vis-à-vis abortion. She suggested that GOP candidates should reframe the conversation to put Democrats on the defensive: “You show me your exceptions and I’ll show you mine.”
“I will not say… ‘Democrats are for abortion up until the moment of birth,’” Conway argued. “You know why that’s not the best way to say it? Because nobody knows anybody who is about to give birth and says, ‘You know what? I really don’t like stretch marks. I’m not really ready to have another person in my life. I change my mind.’”
Instead, Conway suggested, force Democrats to reveal what, if any, restrictions they support on abortion.
Conway’s abortion messaging tour, however, has attracted its own controversy. She has urged Republicans to avoid ballot initiatives on abortion heading into the presidential election. Conway prefers the party focus on a federal fight, placing a more palatable limit on abortion nationwide. This is in line with the sixteen-week national abortion ban that Trump has described as one that would “make both sides happy,” a view that many pro-life advocates repudiate as insubstantial.
The clash over abortion is one of strict morality versus pure strategy, with Conway becoming the face of the latter. Whether one thinks her position serves the cause or harms it, she does have a point if the focus is winning back the White House. After all, abortion is one heck of an enthusiasm-enhancer when it comes to college-educated women — a demographic Trump must improve its numbers with.
“If it took fifty years to overturn Roe v. Wade, it’s going to take more than fifty minutes, fifty hours or fifty weeks to explain to people what that means,” Conway said. “More importantly, what it doesn’t mean — and to move hearts and minds.”
–Juan P. Villasmil
White fury
Bizarre news from the world of local politics: DC councilmember Trayon White found himself in an altercation with a resident over parking, according to a viral Reddit post.
The councilman, who represents the southern part of Navy Yard along with Anacostia, supposedly took issue after the resident criticized him for parking illegally — and then mocked the fact that White had posted a conspiracy theory regarding the Jewish Rothschild family controlling both the weather and the government a few years ago.
White’s district has seen a large increase in violent crime and carjackings during his time in office. (You can read my piece in our forthcoming magazine on Navy Yard’s failings here.)
“Trayon’s in my building gym today playing ball,” the user wrote Thursday. “I saw him and told him I saw him parking illegally here a few times and not to put yourself above the law. He started talking about how there’s no parking (take the metro clown). He got defensive so I asked him to tell the Rothschilds to keep the weather nice.
“He told me don’t play with him and that he’ll get back at guys that play with him, then called up his goon who came and stared at me while I was working out. Walked over to the goon and he got mad at me for walking up to him as I was taking headphones out asking if he had something to say.”
White’s spokeperson told The Spectator, “Councilmember White is prioritizing budget priorities at this time and does not wish to comment on the matter.”
–Matt McDonald
From the site
Tim Rice: Why was last year DC’s most violent in decades?
Ben Domenech: Lessons from Trump’s TikTok zigzag
