Morning Joe noted that Trump's rally yesterday opened with saluting the so-called Jan. 6th choir, and it was all downhill from there.
"Following the saluting of the January 6th choir, the next hour and a half, Trump spoke little of the Republican candidate he was there in support of. Instead, he listed a long list of grievances and painted a bleak picture of America's future, including this warning that came when he was discussing Chinese-made cars being imported to the U.S. from Mexico," Jonathan Lemire said.
We're going to put a 100% tariff on every single car that comes across the line. You're not going to be able to sell those cars. If I get elected. If I don't get elected, it'll be a bloodbath for the whole -- that'll be the least of it. It'll be a bloodbath for the country. That'll be the least of it.
The campaign tried to clean up his mess by insisting he was only talking about the auto industry, but only seems to make it worse.
"And before everyone is triggered and shocked, because this is a shock opera we have to, unfortunately, endure because we're constantly shocked by what he says. But don't let that shock, don't let that trauma let you forget what you're hearing. Believe him," Mika Brzezinski said.
"You know, it was a distinction without a difference. Talking about the auto industry. Then it'll be a bloodbath. Maybe you can connect that to the auto industry. Maybe you can, okay," Scarborough said.
"Again, i've never really heard people discuss macro economics in terms of bloodbaths, but maybe so, for argument's sake. Then he says, 'And that's going to be the least of it.' If you think there's going to be a bloodbath in the auto industry, even if you take that argument at face value, which, again, given the tone of the rest of the speech, bloodbath, i'm not sure he's talking about the niceties of international trade. Let's take that argument as is.
"Then he goes on and says, that's going to be the least of it. Repeats it, it's going to be the least of it. Folks, obviously, he's talking about a bloodbath for America. It's laid out in the terms of it. These idiots on twitter, these idiots on cable news, idiots on Sunday shows going, 'He was only talking about the industry, and this is one more,' that's bullshit. I'll say that at 6:15 a.m. It was bullshit. He knew what he was doing. We're not stupid. Americans aren't stupid.
"He was talking about a bloodbath. Sometimes a bloodbath means a bloodbath. When he finishes by saying, and that's just going to be the least of it, seriously? These people may be stupid. We're not."
"It is clear what he meant. One of trump's rhetorical gifts, if you will, is he speaks just vaguely enough that people can read into different meanings. He allows a little wiggle room and a little out every time," Jonathan Lemire said.
"We saw this in the bloodbath comments, which became a firestorm. Rightly, it was the headline out of the rally in Ohio. It was reported all over the place. Immediately we show immediately, we showed the statement already, the Trump campaign within minutes put something out."
"They have some professionals on their team, and they realized it was a problem and tried to clarify it with that comment," Lemire said.
"What happened then, there was a snowball effect on cable news and particularly social media, voices in the right wing, including prominent voices, really pushing back on this. claiming the media was taking it out of context. Claiming they were biased against Trump, et cetera. Yes, his comments about bloodbath came shortly after talking about the automobile industry. Again, that'll be the least of it. That's the tell. Also, it's that violent language that was peppered throughout his speech, a speech that, again, mind you, began with the former commander in chief saluting the version of the national anthem performed by Jan. 6th convicts."
