Trump blasts coverage of his 'bloodbath' remarks saying he was talking about auto industry

Donald Trump is slamming coverage of the "bloodbath" remarks he made during a rally in Ohio this weekend.

"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. That'll be the least of it," Trump said during a speech in Vandalia on Saturday afternoon.

The statement was firmly embedded in a nearly three-minute discussion of the state of the U.S. auto industry in which Trump warned China's president, Xi Jinping, that he would slap 100% tariffs on cars imported to the United States from what Trump said were "massive," "big" and "monster car manufacturing plants" being built in Mexico.

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That's when he delivered the "bloodbath" warning. In a Monday post, the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee wrote that he was referring to the prospects for America's auto industry.

"The Fake News Media, and their Democrat Partners in the destruction of our Nation, 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," Trump wrote on his social media platform, warning of the demise of the U.S. auto industry unless he is elected president in November.

Nonetheless, Trump's "bloodbath" statement incurred major blowback, prompting him to issue the post on Monday. In his post, however, Trump did not elaborate on what he meant by an alarming clause in his statement: "That'll be the least of it."

In part, critics said, Trump invited the critical and glaring scrutiny because of a record of incendiary comments he made during the lead-up to and the first months of the 2024 presidential election year.

Here are five statements Trump has made that have elicited similar criticism.

1. From "poisoning the blood" of the country to Hannibal Lecter

Trump has aimed some of his sharpest rhetoric at what he rails as the "invasion" of the country by the influx of immigrants at the southern border — U.S. authorities say the number is 7.2 million since 2021 — while Trump claims without citing sources the number is at least double that.

Trump has claimed that people entering the country are "poisoning the blood" of America and are coming from prisons, mental institutions and insane asylums. He has compared them to the fictional serial killer, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, from "The Silence of the Lambs" book and movie.

He and the political ultra-right have coined the term "migrant crime," despite research that people immigrate to the United States are less likely to be jailed for wrongdoing.

"Today, immigrants are 30 percent less likely to be incarcerated than are U.S.-born individuals who are white," a study released last year by the Stanford University researchers. "And when the analysis is expanded to include Black Americans — whose prison rates are higher than the general population — the likelihood of an immigrant being incarcerated is 60 percent lower than of people born in the United States."

Trump's MAGA movement has spotlighted the murder of a Georgia nursing students, Laken Riley, who police say was killed by an undocumented immigrant. Trump met with her parents, and Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene disrupted President Joe Biden's State of the Union address by shouting her demand that Biden speak about Riley's murder.

In an interview with NBC, Riley's father, Jason, said he regrets his daughter's murder has become a political wedge in the country.

"I'd rather her not be such a political, how you say — it started a storm in our country — and it's incited a lot of people," Riley told the network.

On Saturday, Trump repeated his campaign trail assertion that immigrants are "coming from rough places and dangerous places."

2. Trump tells rallygoers he is their 'retribution'

Trump drew criticism a year ago for saying he would avenge undetermined wrongs against his followers. The remarks came as Trump awaited what would be the first of four sets of criminal charges against him.

"I am your warrior, I am your justice,” Trump said in a speech in Texas. “For those who have been wronged and betrayed … I am your retribution."

3. Political opponents are radicals, and just who does the United States belong to?

Since the 2022 midterm election, Trump has ramped up his attacks on political opponents. He has called them "enemies," "fascists," "communists," "Marxists," and "radicals." And he has told the Make American Great Again (MAGA) rally attendees that the country is rightfully theirs.

"No matter how hateful or corrupt the communists and criminals we're fighting against may be, you must never forget this nation does not belong to them," Trump said in Hialeah last November. "This nation belongs to you. It belongs to the people with us tonight."

4. Trump has lauded the world's authoritarians, from Putin to Orbán

In his Ohio speech, Trump praised Hungary's authoritarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, as a "very tough man." Trump in fact hosted Orbán at Mar-a-Lago recently. In the past, Trump has shown respect for U.S. enemies like the terror group Hezbollah and North Korea's Kim Jong Un, whom Trump says are "very smart." He has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, including saying Russia's invasion of Ukraine was "genius."

5. Jan. 6 rioters, insurrectionists are "hostages" and "patriots"

The Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol was one of the darkest days in our country's modern history. In addition to the deaths and injuries incurred by law enforcement officers protecting the building and the members of Congress and their staffs, the attack was part of an orchestrated effort, over months, to undermine the 2020 election and attempt a coup, a congressional panel and others have said.

Trump's culpability in the events leading up to violence on Capitol Hill was laid out in a series of televised hearings by a congressional panel throughout 2022 and then presented in a more-than-800-page report that the committee released in December of that year. In addition, court rulings in Jan. 6 cases against those who carried out the attack have labeled the event an insurrection, as has President Biden.

But to Trump, his supporters who participated in the violence aimed to disrupt the final certification of the 2020 election and commence the ceremonial peaceful transfer of power, are "patriots." And those that are imprisoned for their insurrecitonist actions on that day are "hostages."

"Can you see the spirit from the hostages? And that's what they are, is hostages," Trump said in Vandalia. "First day we get into office we're going to save our country and we're going to work with the people to treat those unbelievable patriots[sic] and they were unbelievable patriots, and are."

Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at afins@pbpost.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: What exactly did Trump mean by 'bloodbath' remark in Ohio rally speech?