Trump Spox Tries to Clean Up ‘Bloodbath for the Country’ Remarks: He Was Talking About an ‘Economic Bloodbath’

Donald Trump’s presidential campaign issued a statement clarifying his comments at a Dayton, Ohio rally Saturday, after he claimed there would be a “bloodbath for the country” if he doesn’t get elected in 2024.

As he spoke about car manufacturing, Trump told Saturday’s rally:

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.

Trump’s prediction came as he promised a “100% tariff” on cars manufactured in Mexico and sold in the United States. The comments prompted a raft of media coverage, which led his campaign to issue a statement making clear Trump was referring to an economic bloodbath if he lost the election.

CNN’s Alayna Treene told Manu Raju:

Now, Manu, it was unclear exactly what Donald Trump was referring to when he made those comments. However, the Trump campaign later tried to clarify those remarks, telling us that he was referring to the auto industry and he was warning of an economic bloodbath.

CNN flashed a statement on the screen from Trump Campaign Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, that emphasized, “Biden’s policies will create an economic bloodbath for the auto industry and autoworkers.”

Treene reported that the Biden campaign wasted no time in attacking the “bloodbath” remarks, and went on to quote spokesman James Singer, who said, Trump “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.”

Treene continued, “Now, the Trump campaign argued that the Biden campaign statement was being a bit deceptive, and we heard this from Steven Cheung, one of his top advisers. They told us, quote, ‘crooked Joe Biden and his campaign are engaging in deceptively out of context editing that puts Roman Polanski to shame.'”

“So clearly, different takes on those remarks,” Treene said. “But as you mentioned, a very very dark speech from the former president here in Ohio.”

Watch the clip above via CNN.