One question is whether non-policy-based strategies by the Democrats can muddy the waters enough to secure a second White House term for Joe Biden. Another (asked by a GOP senator) is whether Trump can win in November while continuing to provide fodder for the "other guys" – whether intentional or not.
Regardless what Trump actually meant in Saturday comments at a rally in Dayton, Ohio, he pushes the envelope of rhetoric to the point that critics say is confusing for some people, a political turnoff for others. At issue – as called out by numerous conservative voices – is that several media outlets appeared to intentionally take Trump out of context for his use of the word "bloodbath" when discussing potential Chinese-owned automotive manufacturing plants in Mexico:
Trump: "If you're listening, President Xi – and you and I are friends – but he understands the way I deal. Those big monster car manufacturing plants that you're building in Mexico right now… you're going to not hire Americans and you're going to sell the cars to us, no. 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 cars if I get elected.
"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 will be the least of it. But they're not going to sell those cars. They're building massive factories."
As Fox News reports, these headlines followed:
"Trump says country faces 'bloodbath' if Biden wins in November" (Politico)
"Trump says there will be a 'bloodbath' if he loses the election" (NBC News)
"In Ohio campaign rally, Trump says there will be a 'bloodbath' if he loses November election" (CBS News)
"Trump Says There Will Be a 'Bloodbath' and Elections Will End if He Isn't Reelected" (Rolling Stone)
"Trump says some migrants are 'not people', and warns of 'bloodbath' if he loses" (NPR)
Democratic tactic: Delay and hope
Marc Lotter, the chief communications officer for America First Policy Institute, said on American Family Radio Monday that what's actually happening is a shifting of values among voters. But the problem for Trump, he added, is the full brunt of the shift may not happen quickly enough – so the strategy for Democrats is to delay that shift.
"What we're watching happen in real time is a political realignment in our country. We're looking at how hard-working, middle-class Americans, people of color, you name it, are abandoning the Democrat Party and their radical policies because they don't work.
"People are seeing in real time that these policies don't work and they're gravitating to policies that they like and that do work and that did make them safer, that made things more affordable, allowed them to pursue their dreams of buying a home, taking that dream vacation, getting their kids through college. All of these things are cutting against the lack of results for Democrats – and they're panicking," Lotter said.
With failed policies on their worksheet, Lotter told show host Jenna Ellis, the Democrats are pursuing a strategy of confusion and misinformation. And the complicit mainstream media, he added, are further damaging their own cause.
"[We're] seeing the trust in the media go down. You see their ratings going down because people … don't need them and [they] don't trust them. It's all coming together. This entire left-wing cabal and misinformation machine is unraveling."
Trump responded to the out-of-context reporting with a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, on Monday, saying the media and Democrats "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."
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) walked a fine line on NBC's Meet The Press Sunday. Trump, he said, could "arguably have been talking about an economic bloodbath, not about a kind of street violence related to the election." The congressman noted: "Sometimes the mainstream media, whether they want to or not, can't resist, and they go just a little bit too far …"
Trump gave Democrats another opening in the speech when he referenced illegal migrants who have flooded across the open southern border. One of those migrants has been charged in the brutal murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley.
"I don't know if you can call them people," Trump said. "In some case, they're not people in my opinion, but I'm not allowed to say that because the radical left says that's a terrible thing to say."
The Hill reported that Cassidy distanced himself from the position of the Biden campaign, which denounced the comments as part of Trump's "threats of political violence."
"That's their perspective. They've got a candidate who also doesn't seem fit for office. But you could also look up the definition of bloodbath, and it could be an economic disaster. And so, if he's speaking about the auto industry, in particular in Ohio, then you can take it with a little bit more context," Cassidy offered. "That's why I say you walk up to the line, depending upon the perspective somebody is going to interpret it."
Will the tactic be successful?
Lotter contends the misinformation approach – successful or not – is one big stall tactic by Democrats.
"They are panicking," he argues. "And basically what they are doing is trying to do the only thing they can to hope that they can delay this.
"They hope they can get just one more election through and 'Maybe then we can retool. Maybe then things will start to work' – even though their policies haven't worked to date. 'Maybe that will just get us across the finish line.'
"Yet every time you look, more and more people are saying, 'I've had it, I've had enough. Just give me the facts, the real facts. Let me make up my own mind for myself,'" Lotter concluded.
