CNN —
Former President Donald Trump warned Saturday that if he were to lose the 2024 election, it would be a “bloodbath” for the US auto industry and the country.
The remark came as Trump promised a “100% tariff” on cars made outside the US, arguing that domestic auto manufacturing would be protected only if he is elected.
“We’re going to put a 100% tariff on every single car that comes across the line, and you’re not going to be able to sell those guys if I get elected,” Trump said during a rally in Vandalia, Ohio. “Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the whole – that’s gonna be the least of it. It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country. That’ll be the least of it.”
The comment came in the midst of an extended riff on the auto industry, unions, the transition to electric vehicles and auto plants in Mexico. Trump has sought to woo autoworkers and appeal to voters in Rust Belt states by hammering on trade, tariffs and EV manufacturing. Trump told CNBC this month that he would place a 50% tariff on cars made in Chinese plants in Mexico.
The former president later stressed to the crowd his belief in the urgency of the November election. “If this election isn’t won, I’m not sure that you’ll ever have another election in this country.”
Saturday’s rally was held in support of businessman Bernie Moreno, Trump’s preferred candidate in the state’s Republican Senate primary Tuesday. It was a freewheeling speech, which he blamed on being unable to use the teleprompter due to strong winds.
“I can’t read this damn teleprompter,” Trump said. “This sucker is moving. Like reading a moving flag at a 35-mph wind.”
President Joe Biden’s campaign latched on to Trump’s use of the word “bloodbath,” saying the former president “wants another January 6.”
“This is who Donald Trump is: 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,” Biden campaign spokesperson James Singer said in a statement Saturday evening.
The Trump campaign shot back Saturday night, saying the former president was speaking about autoworkers. “Biden’s policies will create an economic bloodbath for the auto industry and autoworkers,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said.
“Crooked Joe Biden and his campaign are engaging in deceptively, out-of-context editing that puts Roman Polanski to shame,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told CNN.
Trump spent much of his remarks Saturday bashing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, criticizing Biden on immigration and the economy, and repeating baseless accusations that the 2020 election was stolen due to widespread voter fraud. He repeated his promise to free people charged with crimes related to the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, whom he calls “hostages,” on Day 1 in office.
As part of his unfounded claims that countries are emptying their prisons and sending their criminals to the US, Trump said Saturday that he does not view those imprisoned for their role in gang violence and other violent crimes as “people.”
“If I had prisons that were teeming with MS-13 and all sorts of people that they’ve got to take care of for the next 50 years, right? Young people. They’re in jail for years. If you call them people. I don’t know if you call them people in some cases. They’re not people in my opinion, but I’m not allowed to say that because the radical left says it’s a terrible thing to say,” Trump said.
He went on to characterize undocumented immigrants who commit crimes as “animals.”
The former president has made it clear that he seeks to make immigration and the border campaign wedge issues, and he has proposed a widespread expansion of his first administration’s hardline immigration policies, including mass detentions and deportations.
He has also repeatedly used dehumanizing language to refer to migrants, including saying last year that they were “poisoning the blood of our country,” echoing words used by Adolf Hitler.