Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) emphasized the importance of the November election following ex-President Trump's warning about a “bloodbath” for the auto industry and the nation if he doesn't secure a second term in office.
At a campaign event in Ohio During a rally in Ohio on Saturday, Trump proposed a 100 percent tariff on cars manufactured overseas, stating that only with him in power would the industry be safeguarded.
“If I'm not reelected, it's going to be a disaster for everyone — that's just the tip of the iceberg. It's going to be a disaster for the country,” Trump remarked.
His opponents swiftly criticized the comments, interpreting them as an incitement to political violence.
Pelosi, a frequent political adversary of the former president, indicated that the comments underscore the importance of a Biden victory for Democrats.
“We absolutely have to win this election because he's even predicting a bloodbath,” Pelosi told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.”
“What does that mean? Is he going to cause a bloodbath? There's something amiss here. I have the utmost respect for the American people and their kindness. But how much more do they need to see from him to realize that this isn't what our country stands for?” Pelosi continued. “Praising Hitler, praising the Russians, honestly, I mean, condemning our soldiers for losing or dying in war or being captured in war.”
Pelosi urged the American public to consider these issues when they cast their votes in November.
“There's something wrong here. So I just say, with all the respect in the world for voters and their right to make their decision, assess these factors. How much do you value … women’s right to choose or the rights of LGBT individuals, that you would vote for him?”
Trump and his supporters have pushed back against media coverage of his remarks on Saturday, claiming they were taken out of context.
An account on X, previously known as Twitter, associated with the Trump campaign responded with an unlikely figure supporting Trump.
“The president was clearly discussing the impact of imports devastating the American automotive industry,” former Vice President Mike Pence, who announced Friday he would not endorse Trump in 2024, said in a CBS News “Face the Nation” interview.
“Crooked Joe Biden and his campaign are deceptively using out-of-context editing that puts Roman Polanski to shame,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement.
“They are the ones employing judicial lawfare to target their main political opponent— President Trump— because he is dominating Joe in the polls. There's no amount of special medicine they can inject him with to make him seem alive, act normally, or stop him from falling all the time,” he added.
