Like a cat chasing a flashlight, former President Trump had the liberal media in the palm of his hand. As our Jorge Bonilla noted on the Sunday morning political talk shows and Sunday night on ABC, the liberal media were losing their noodles over Trump’s Saturday remarks warning of a “bloodbath” for the U.S. auto industry if President Biden succeeded in pressing through electric vehicles assembled in or with help from China.
Naturally, the press claimed he meant America would become a literal “bloodbath” if he lost the November election. And, unfortunately, the lies about this “incendiary” and “controversial” remark dragged into the flagship Monday morning shows on ABC, CBS, and NBC.
ABC’s Good Morning America co-host and former Clinton tool George Stephanopoulos denounced Trump’s rally as an “incendiary speech” outlining his “vision of America” that included “praise for the January 6 convicts, attacks on immigrants as subhuman, and a warning of a bloodbath for the country if he’s defeated.”
Chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl — a three-time bestselling anti-Trump author who’d benefit from a second Trump term — huffed from a proverbial fainting couch about how, “[e]ven by Trump standards, [his] speech over the weekend was dark and menacing.”
After starting with Trump’s January 6 comments, Karl screeched at Trump “call[ing] some of the undocumented immigrants...animals” before shifting to “bloodbath”: “He also vowed to impose a 100 percent tariff on some imported cars, then making an ominous warning about what would happen if Biden wins reelection.”
Karl played the full clip in context, but then demanded viewers “listen again” to imply he thinks Trump predicted America will be a literal bloody mess if he loses. Incredibly, he closed by suggesting it didn’t really matter what Trump meant, but that it was dangerous (click “expand”):
KARL: The Biden campaign quickly seized on Trump’s comments, accusing him of having a “affection for violence” and a “thirst for revenge” and alleging he wants “another January 6.” The Trump campaign defended Trump’s use of the word bloodbath. Senior adviser Jason Miller saying Trump was referring to “the auto industry,” not political violence. It’s true that Trump started out talking about cars, but listen again. He then explicitly says, that will “be the least of it.”
TRUMP [on 03/16/24]: 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, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the country.
KARL: Speaking at the Gridiron Dinner in Washington over the weekend, President Biden laid out what believed what is at stake in the election, saying, “there is a toxic cycle of anger and conspiracy,” adding, “freedom is under a sold, to vote, the freedom to choose, and so much more.” Whether or not Trump was solely talking about cars or about the broader economy when he used the word “bloodbath,” it wasn’t the only dark morning that he made about what would happen if he loses in November. He also said that, if Biden wins, “I don’t think that you’re going to have another election in this country”[.]
Shifting to NBC’s Today, weekend co-host Laura Jarrett (daughter of Obama confidant, Valerie Jarrett) was filling in on a weekday and, naturally, parroted Team Biden’s talking points by boasting of “Trump sparking controversy at a rally, saying there will be a ‘bloodbath’ if he loses in November.”
Trump campaign correspondent Garrett Haake also took his marching orders from his leftist pals by contrasting Trump’s comment “drawing a lot of attention” and “debate” about “what [Trump] actually said and what he may have meant” with Biden’s “record fundraising haul”.
“Donald Trump on the attack this weekend in Ohio, lashing out at some of his favorite targets from the criminal cases against him....to what he claims are the criminal migrants crossing the southern border and destroying the country,” Haake added.
He then fed the “bloodbath” hoax, which he celebrated as having “creat[ed] new headlines and headaches for his campaign” with “[t]he Biden campaign seizing on the remark and rejecting the Trump campaign’s claim that it was about only cars.”
Haake did, however, concede that “[e]lected Republicans” were “largely shrugging off the comment”.
While he played up a manufactured Trump controversy, he played stenographer for Biden by cheering his campaign’s “record fundraising haul” having left “the campaign flush with $155 million” and Biden appearing at the ultra-elite D.C. event the Gridiron.
CBS Mornings got in on the fun too. Co-host Tony Dokoupil had a quick tease in the “Eye Opener” with the chyron “Trump rhetoric” as he noted Trump was “pick[ing] up some new attention for controversial comments if he loses”.
Dokoupil also led off the full segment: “The presumptive Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, is taking heat for the language he used at a rally in Ohio over the weekend where he lashed out at migrants and defended January 6 criminals.”
Senior White House correspondent Ed O’Keefe largely focused on former Vice President Mike Pence’s Face the Nation interview and Trump’s January 6 comments at the rally, but he stayed out of the “bloodbath” hubbub (even though he ended as Haake did with Biden fluff) (click “expand”):
O’KEEFE: Trump went on to stoke fear about criminals coming across the southern border —
TRUMP [on 03/16/24]: But I don’t know if you call them people. In some cases, they’re not people, in my opinion.
O’KEEFE: — and speaking about the auto industry and cars manufactured abroad, he said —
TRUMP [on 03/16/24]: We’re going to put 100 percent tariff on every single car that comes across the line. [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] 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, it’s going to be a bloodbath.
O’KEEFE: The Biden campaign criticized Trump’s use of the word “bloodbath”, saying he was doubling down on “threats of political violence.”[CHEERS] The Trump campaign hit back, saying the comment was taken out of context. As for President Biden, he celebrated St. Patrick’s Day here at the White House yesterday while also celebrating a record $53 million fundraising total in February. This week, he’s headed west for stops in the battleground states of Nevada and Arizona, which he won in 2020 and will be critical in November. He’ll also be making some stops in Texas to raise money[.]
To see the relevant transcript from March 18, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).
