Over the weekend, the liberal media went hog-wild with a grossly out-of-context soundbite of former President Trump claiming that he was going to bring a “bloodbath” to America if he wasn’t reelected. ABC’s The View kept the falsehood going Monday morning by airing a deceptively edited clip of Trump and repeatedly insisting that he was completely in context. Only one of them dared to get close to the truth and even then, they only played footsie with it.
Ahead of their defense of the media’s lies about the clip, The View aired a deceptively edited video of Trump’s speech stripping out all references to China undercutting American manufacturing:
In some cases, they're not people in my opinion. [Transition] These are bad -- these are animals. [Transition] We're going to put a 100 percent 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 going to 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.
“So, he says his bloodbath comment was referring to the auto industry. Now, I don't know if that's how y'all heard it, but that's not how it sounded to me,” moderator Whoopi Goldberg scoffed.
Faux conservative Alyssa Farah Griffin wasn’t concerned with the fact that the media companies she sold her soul to (ABC and CNN) were lying to the American people about the context of the context. Instead, she was more concerned with Republicans pouncing:
I do think it matters. So, I know how Republican voters think, and the average person doesn't probably consume media -- political media especially as much as we do, and my worry is this. The bloodbath comment over the weekend was wall-to-wall coverage, and a lot of Republicans are going to see the headline and then see what he said and say, “Oh, wait. He's talking about autoworkers,” but what they don't hear is the other part that we played there. January 6th hostages, playing an alternative national anthem. That is so un-American.
“But look, we've already seen what Donald Trump's words are capable of, who they're capable of triggering. Right? We have seen January 6th. We've seen that he's led an insurrection,” the other fake conservative, Ana Navarro bloviated. And in spite of the fact that Trump was talking about China undercutting U.S. manufacturing in the auto industry, she insisted: “We're not taking it out of context because the context is his history and his life.”
She also blamed Trump for a mass shooting at an El Paso, Texas Walmart and suggested that if Trump was reelected, he’d would call for an open hunting season on Latinos (Click “expand”):
And I will never forget, and I think we have to remember it over and over again, the 23 people that were killed in the Walmart in El Paso because a white supremacist was triggered by words like invaders, by wanting to go target people who look like me, and probably sound like me, even though 13 of them were Americans like I am.
So, I want to say to my, you know, Latino friends, some of them who might be thinking of voting for Trump. When Trump talks about poisoning the blood of America, and he's talking about migrants, when he refers to them as animals and he's talking about my migrants, and when he's referring to them as not people, as invaders. Let me tell you. People who hate folks like that, they're not going to stop and ask you if you have a U.S. citizenship or a U.S. passport. They're going to shoot first and then ask questions. So I think he's putting a target on all of our backs.
“It scared me. It scared me,” staunchly racist and anti-Semitic co-host, Sunny Hostin (the descendant of slave owners) proclaimed about Trump’s “bloodbath” comment. The overwrought pearl-clutching continued with her suggesting that it reminded her of a WWII TV show she was watching where they mentioned the Holocaust:
And he is using that kind of World War II rhetoric that led to the deaths of 6 -- the murders of 6 million people, and now he is otherizing brown people. He is otherizing black people. He is saying things like this: “I don't think you're going to have another election if I don't win or certainly not an election that's meaningful.” He's saying the loud -- the quiet part out loud: “If I am not elected, we are going to see January 6th again.”
“And I think we need to be on guard to make sure that we preserve our democracy so that our country looks the way that it should look, like all of us! It's a diverse country! That's what America was built upon!” she shrieked.
The only one to get anywhere close to admitting the full context of Trump’s “bloodbath” comment was left-of-center co-host Sara Haines. She said she was shocked by media headlines but admitted that after she watched it, she “had a slightly different context because he is speaking all about cars and tariffs and auto industry.”
Haines hedged by arguing that it was reasonable for the media to take him out of context because he was “incoherent” and thus wasn’t “too far of a stretch that the media was running with it.” “I do think some people then calling for, this is the sound of a new insurrection and all of this. They were running a little far,” she added.
She then criticized Trump, saying: “[H]e invites this criticism because this is the language he invokes. He's always dropping little whistles into everything he says, and the problem there is, regardless if you try to give him context, regardless if you try to give him benefit of the doubt, the people that are looking for those sound like you're mentioning, Ana, are hearing them.”
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
March 18, 2024
11:03:02 a.m. Eastern(…)
DONALD TRUMP: In some cases, they're not people in my opinion. [Transition] These are bad -- these are animals. [Transition] We're going to put a 100 percent 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 going to 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.
[Cuts back to live]
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: So, he says his bloodbath comment was referring to the auto industry. Now, I don't know if that's how y'all heard it, but that's not how it sounded to me, but I mean, what do you think about -- do you care? Because he does this every week now, every three or four days, he says something outrageous, and then we flock to talk about it. What's your thoughts?
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: I do think it matters. So, I know how Republican voters think, and the average person doesn't probably consume media -- political media especially as much as we do, and my worry is this. The bloodbath comment over the weekend was wall-to-wall coverage, and a lot of Republicans are going to see the headline and then see what he said and say, “Oh, wait. He's talking about autoworkers,” but what they don't hear is the other part that we played there. January 6th hostages, playing an alternative national anthem. That is so un-American.
(…)
11:05:02 a.m. Eastern
ANA NAVARRO: But look, we've already seen what Donald Trump's words are capable of, who they're capable of triggering. Right? We have seen January 6th. We've seen that he's led an insurrection. So, no. We're not taking it out of context because the context is his history and his life.
And I will never forget, and I think we have to remember it over and over again, the 23 people that were killed in the Walmart in El Paso because a white supremacist was triggered by words like invaders, by wanting to go target people who look like me, and probably sound like me, even though 13 of them were Americans like I am.
So, I want to say to my, you know, Latino friends, some of them who might be thinking of voting for Trump. When Trump talks about poisoning the blood of America, and he's talking about migrants, when he refers to them as animals and he's talking about my migrants, and when he's referring to them as not people, as invaders. Let me tell you. People who hate folks like that, they're not going to stop and ask you if you have a U.S. citizenship or a U.S. passport. They're going to shoot first and then ask questions. So I think he's putting a target on all of our backs.
(…)
11:06:25 a.m. Eastern
SUNNY HOSTIN: It scared me.
[Applause]
It scared me, honestly, you know? I didn't think ever in my lifetime I would see that. I’ve been watching this show called The New Look, and it goes over what designers were doing in Paris during World War II during the Nazi occupation. And one character says to another, you know, “We took all the things that the Jews had. We took their homes. We took their jewelry. We took all of those things. And now the next step is to dehumanize them, to make sure that they have -- to show people that they have no soul, that they are not human.”
And he is using that kind of World War II rhetoric that led to the deaths of 6 -- the murders of 6 million people, and now he is otherizing brown people. He is otherizing black people. He is saying things like this: “I don't think you're going to have another election if I don't win or certainly not an election that's meaningful.” He's saying the loud -- the quiet part out loud: “If I am not elected, we are going to see January 6th again.”
And I think we need to be on guard to make sure that we preserve our democracy so that our country looks the way that it should look, like all of us! It's a diverse country! That's what America was built upon!
SARA HAINES: Yeah. Well so, when I first heard this speech, I read the headlines and was, like, “Oh my gosh. What is he saying now?” And then I went in and watched it, and I had a slightly different context because he is speaking all about cars and tariffs and auto industry. But the problem is he also sounded slightly incoherent because he then veered -- the way he has lately in a lot of these rallies.
HOSTIN: He has a limited vocabulary.
HAINES: Well when he say, like “Yeah, and if I don't get elected” you can start to follow his irrational thought process of, “Ahhh there'll be a blood bath.” So, I don't think it was too far of a stretch that the media was running with it. I do think some people then calling for, this is the sound of a new insurrection and all of this. They were running a little far. Because I don’t think he’s -- you can't just claim coherence when you like what he says, meaning you can run with kind of his narrative.
But he invites this criticism because this is the language he invokes. He's always dropping little whistles into everything he says, and the problem there is, regardless if you try to give him context, regardless if you try to give him benefit of the doubt, the people that are looking for those sounds like you're mentioning, Ana, are hearing them. And he has to stop talking about hostages.
(…)
