After presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump declared that there would be a “bloodbath” if he is not elected in November, Democratic strategists are cautioning Black voters – and all Americans – to take him at his word.
“If I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath … that’s the least of it,” Trump said during a campaign rally in Ohio on Saturday.
The former president’s campaign attempted to clarify that Trump was not referring to political violence in his remarks but was referring to the economy if President Joe Biden is elected to a second term. However, Democrats say voters don’t have to look far to know Trump’s history of using rhetoric to incite or excuse violence.
“Donald Trump and his supporters want you to give him the benefit of the doubt when we know he’s led a violent insurrection,” said Democratic strategist Joel Payne, referring to the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol building by Trump supporters after he refused to concede his 2020 election loss to Biden.
Payne said the twice-impeached, four-times-indicted former president “uses political violence as a rhetorical weapon” and has “done it for a long time.”
On Monday, the Biden-Harris campaign released a memo detailing what is essentially Trump’s greatest hits of encouraging or downplaying violence, including infamously telling white nationalist groups to “stand back and stand by” when asked to condemn white supremacy and violence.
The campaign noted other incidents — like when Trump encouraged his supporters to “knock out” hecklers disrupting his campaign rallies or declared there was “blame on both sides” after white supremacists held a violent rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. As president, Trump also threatened to use “vicious dogs” against Black Lives Matter protesters.
“The Trump campaign can try to spin all they want, but the context is clear: Their…
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