Did Donald Trump Threaten 'Bloodbath' If He Loses? Here's What Happened

Donald Trump stirred controversy at the weekend after warning of a "bloodbath" in the U.S. should he lose the 2024 presidential election.

Speaking to a crowd in Ohio, Trump had been describing plans to impose heavy tariffs on vehicle imports before making the comment, which drew a rebuke from President Joe Biden, among others.

Trump's supporters say his words were taken out of context, and that he was predicting the health of the auto industry if he didn't make it to the White House.

Newsweek has taken a look at the story so far.

Context

Trump has secured enough delegates to become the GOP nominee for president after seeing away his remaining rival, Nikki Haley, earlier this month.

While his victory was predictable, with strong support within the far-right of the party, whether Trump can convince a wider pool of voters that he can lead the country again is another matter.

Trump is currently facing four criminal indictments, among them accusations that he interfered with the results of the 2020 election.

He continues to share the falsehood that he won the 2020 contest, convincing his supporters that his election loss and his legal battles are part of a conspiracy by leaders in Washington and elsewhere to suppress his influence.

While he has never shied away from celebrating his legitimately earned victories, he has treated opponents with vicious rhetoric and a range of allegations. He has threatened to lock up his political enemies if elected president.

Last year, he said he wouldn't commit to accepting the results of the 2024 election and at least in part would exercise dictatorial authority to achieve policy goals.

Views

Critics and opponents argue that a Trump presidency is a threat to democracy. President Joe Biden has called Trump's actions an "assault on democracy" and has made his opponent's integrity and behavior a key attack line in his campaign to remain in the White House.

On Saturday, Biden told the Gridiron Club Dinner in Washington, D.C., that the actions of Trump and his supporters had left "poison" in America's democracy.

"Here at home, our basic freedom is under assault, the freedom to vote, the freedom to choose, and so much more," Biden said.

"The lies about the 2020 election, the plots to overturn it, to embrace the January 6th insurrectionists pose the gravest threat to our democracy since the American Civil War.

"In 2020, they failed. But you all know the threat remains, a poison course...coursing through the veins of our democracy."

Trump has again and again leveled claims that Biden is corrupt, an attack line that the GOP has pursued through its interrogation of the president's son, Hunter Biden, and his alleged financial and business associations overseas.

Trump has previously said that Biden and his "closet thugs, misfits, and Marxists tried to destroy American democracy," with little reasoning behind the claim.

However, Trump's comments at the weekend about a post-election "bloodbath" revived claims the former president represents a greater threat to U.S. democratic institutions.

What Happened?

Speaking in Ohio on Saturday, Trump outlined his plans to impose heavy tariffs on Chinese cars manufactured in Mexico and imported into the U.S, pledging to put a "100 percent tariff on every single car" that's imported "if I get elected."

He then said "Now if I don't get elected, it's gonna be a bloodbath for the whole, that's gonna be the least of it, it's gonna be a bloodbath for the country, that'll be the least of it.

"But they're not gonna sell those cars. They're building massive factories."

The "bloodbath" remark was quickly criticized by opponents, with former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi describing her concerns in an interview with CNN on Sunday.

"We just have to win this election because he's even predicting a bloodbath," Pelosi said. "What does that mean? He's going to exact a bloodbath?

"There's something wrong here. How respectful I am of the American people and their goodness, but how much more do they have to see from him to understand that this isn't what our country is about."

The Biden-Harris campaign also issued a statement, claiming Trump had said there would be a bloodbath if he wasn't elected, calling him 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 added: "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 has scoffed at these criticisms. In a post on Truth Social on March 18, 2024, he said the "media" and Democrats had "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, which are killing the automobile industry."

"The United Auto Workers, but not their leadership, fully understand what I mean," he added.

"With the Electric Car Mandate being pushed by Biden, there soon won't be any cars made in the USA - UNLESS I'M ELECTED PRESIDENT, IN WHICH CASE AUTO MANUFACTURING WILL THRIVE LIKE NEVER BEFORE!!! MAGA2024"

Some of Trump's closest allies and supporters made similar responses.

Georgia Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said: "They twist his phrases and sarcasm and tell the public he said something he did not.

"When Trump said there will be a bloodbath if Biden wins, he was talking about the auto industry and he's RIGHT!"

Ohio Republican Senator J.D. Vance added: "Donald Trump said that a bloodbath would happen to the American auto industry if Biden kept on promoting Chinese-made EVs.

"He of course is 100 percent correct. All other reporting about his 'bloodbath' comment is complete propaganda. The media should be ashamed."

The meaning behind the "bloodbath" is not clear-cut.

On the one hand, it sounds like an aside from his remarks about the American auto industry. Unrelated mid-sentence tangents have often characterized Trump's campaign speeches. His "bloodbath" comment fits that dialectical pattern, with Trump wandering off and returning to topics on a whim.

Trump specifically spoke of a "bloodbath for the whole country." If his comment refers to the impact of an auto-industry collapse in the U.S. were he not elected president, the delivery of that sentiment was, arguably, unclear.

However, the context of the conversation does seem to give Trump and his supporters, at the very least, a degree of plausible deniability to shoo away critics.

George Conway, an attorney and Trump critic, argued on social media that whether or not Trump was referring to the auto industry, what matters was his consistent use of "apocalyptic and violent language in an indiscriminate fashion as a result of his psychopathy and correlative authoritarian tendencies."

"It's a classic trait and technique of authoritarian demagogues," he said. "He catastrophizes *everything* to rile up his cultish supporters, and to bind them to him, and to make them willing to do his bidding."

Newsweek has contacted a media representative for Donald Trump via email for comment.

What's Next?

Republican party members in Kansas, Ohio, Florida, Arizona and Illinois will take part in state primaries on Tuesday.

While Trump has now clinched enough delegates to secure the GOP nomination, the votes will provide a further opportunity to celebrate his popularity and maintain momentum behind his MAGA campaign.