Former President Trump denounced some undocumented immigrants as “not people” and warned of a “blood bath” if he is not reelected at a chaotic rally in Ohio on Saturday night.
Trump spoke in a Dayton, Ohio, suburb on Saturday to campaign for Senate candidate Bernie Moreno, who faces a neck and neck primary against state Sen. Matt Dolan and Secretary of State Frank LaRose on Tuesday.
The former president’s comments about migrants accused of crimes come as immigration remains a critical issue for the 2024 election.
“I don’t know if you call them people,” he said at the rally. “In some cases they’re not people, in my opinion. But I’m not allowed to say that because the radical left says that’s a terrible thing to say.”
Trump also predicted a dire scene if he loses the November election, claiming Biden would tank the U.S. economy.
“If I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a blood bath for the whole — that’s going to be the least of it. It’s going to be a blood bath for the country,” Trump said while discussing his proposal for steep tariffs on vehicle imports.
The Biden campaign denounced the comments as part of Trump’s “threats of political violence.”
“He 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,” campaign spokesperson James Singer said in a statement.
Trump’s comments Saturday echo his previous use of pejorative language against immigrants, which began at the launch of his 2016 presidential campaign, where he called Mexicans “rapists,” and recently when he said migrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.”
The latter comment drew comparisons to similar phrases in Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf,” a comparison Trump has denied and denounced.
The three-person race for the Republican Ohio Senate nomination is expected to go down to the wire, with recent polls showing either Moreno or Dolan in the lead.
Moreno has gained the backing of Trump and his allies, while Dolan is backed by more moderate political forces in the Buckeye State, including Gov. Mike DeWine (R) and former Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio).
General election polls have shown Dolan as the stronger candidate against Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who faces a difficult campaign for a critical seat in Democrats’ efforts to keep their razor-thin Senate majority.