Jen Psaki slams Trump over 'embrace of political violence'

18 March 2024

After Donald Trump told supporters over the weekend there will be a "bloodbath" if he is not returned to the White House, Republicans were quick to defend the criminally-indicted ex-president by claiming the media took his words out of context.

ABC News' "World News Tonight" on Sunday reported the Trump campaign is "on the defensive" over Trump's "fiery rhetoric" Saturday in Dayton Ohio.

"Trump warning while discussing the economy that there will be a quote 'bloodbath' if he is not re-elected in November. This, after the former president kicked off the event by paying tribute to those who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6th."

Journalist Mehdi Hasan, editor-in-chief of Zeteo News, remarked, "When you give a long rambling speech in which you make violent threats and allusions constantly, salute domestic terrorists, and demonize foreigners, you don’t then get to say ‘bloodbath’ and hide behind ‘but the context was cars!’. Sorry. That’s life."

Showing Trump's remarks, then explaining the "full context," MSNBC host Jen Psaki took the Trump campaign and its defenders to task:

"If they want us to consider the full context, let's do just that," Psaki said Sunday. "Because the full context is that Trump kicked off the same exact rally by saluting the people who were convicted for the deadly assault on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, all to the tune of the national anthem sung by a choir of imprisoned insurrectionists. The full context is that some of the first words out of Trump's mouth last night's same rally were thanking those rioters and calling them great patriots. The full context is that he also said in this same rally quote, 'If this election isn't won, I'm not sure that you'll ever have another election in this country.' The full context is that he went on to say some undocumented immigrants are quote, 'not people.' And of course, the full context is that this is much bigger than one single speech. This embrace of political violence, this dehumanizing language. This is what Donald Trump has been preaching for years."

"In January he warned that there will be quote, 'Bedlam' in this country if his criminal prosecution derailed his campaign. Late last year he echoed the dehumanizing language of Adolf Hitler, comparing his political opponents to vermin and saying immigrants are, quote, 'poisoning the blood of our country.' Last month, he said there would be potential death and destruction if he was charged in the Manhattan criminal probe. And during his first term he flat out refused to condemn the political violence at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, saying there were very fine people on both sides."

"In 2020," she continued, "he reportedly asked his defense secretary about shooting people who were protesting the death of George Floyd, saying, 'Can't you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the leg or something.' And of course, his very words inspired violence on January 6, 2021, when he told a crowd of his supporters to walk down to the Capitol and fight like hell because quote, 'we'll never take back our country with weakness.' Trust me, I could go on and on and on. We all know by now that Trump's allusions to political violence are not merely rhetorical. His supporters take them literally, that's part of the big problem here. And he knows that too. So no, we did not miss the full context. This was not meandering, off-message comment, this is his message."

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