In March 2024, a quote from US presidential candidate Donald Trump was widely circulated in the media and on social networks, who allegedly said during a rally that if he loses the upcoming elections, the country will face a “bloodbath.” We checked to see if the politician said anything similar.

On March 17, the largest Russian publications (“News", RBC, TASS, "RIA Novosti", "Russian newspaper", "Gazeta.ru"and others) published notes that Trump warned Americans at a rally in Ohio: if they do not elect him as the next president, the country will face a “bloodbath.” According to the TGStat service, in the Russian-language segment of Telegram, posts with a quote at the time of writing this analysis received more than 5.6 million views. The most popular publications were from the channels "Axe.Live"(816,000 views), "Bloody lady"(405,000), "Dmitry Nicotin"(350,000) and Colonelcassad (291,000). Social media users also shared Trump's provocative quote. X, Facebook And Instagram.

The first reports of an unusual “campaign promise” by Trump, who actually spoke in Ohio on March 16, appeared that day in the American media. The news spread widely on social networks - so, fast user @BidenHQ in X received more than 8 million views. In the nine-second clip posted by this blogger, Trump says: “If I don't get elected, there will be a bloodbath, to say the least. There will be a bloodbath for the country, and that’s at least” (in the original: “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’ll be the least of it”).

Video with Russian subtitles from the Telegram channel “Dmitry Nicotin»

Among others this video reposted current US President Joe Biden, who commented on his opponent’s words: “This guy clearly wants another January 6th.” The politician meant events January 6, 2021, when a crowd of supporters of Trump, who lost the election, stormed the US Capitol. During the riots, hundreds of people, including 174 police officers, were wounded, four people died, one police officer died in hospital and four more law enforcement officers committed suicide within seven months of the events. Biden named that day was the darkest in modern American history and accused in Trump's riots.

Trump's statement in the nine-second video actually sounds like he is predicting a wave of violence in the United States if he loses the November vote. According to the Merriam-Webster American English Dictionary, the basic meaning of the word bloodbath is a “massacre”, “the killing of a large number of people”, “an exceptionally cruel or destructive contest or struggle.”

However, the short video circulated on X lacks any context, and to understand what Trump meant, you need to look at the full records his performances in Ohio. At about the 31st minute of his hour and a half speech, the politician mentioned plan Biden will significantly increase sales of electric vehicles in the United States, which, according to the Republican, will deal a blow to the production of cars with internal combustion engines. Trump also accused China of building automobile factories in Mexico, which he believes will lead to a decrease in the number of jobs in American industry:

“Mexico has taken 34% of our country's auto business in 30 years, think about it - [they] went to Mexico. China is now building a couple of large factories where they are going to make cars in Mexico, and they think they can sell these cars in the US without taxes at the border. Let me tell China something, if you're listening, President Xi, we're friends, but he understands how I do things. Those gigantic, monstrous car factories that you are now building in Mexico - do you think that you will succeed, that you will not hire Americans, but will sell us these cars? No. We will impose a 100% tariff on every car that comes to us from abroad, and you will not be able to sell these cars. If I'm elected."

This was followed by the phrase that ended up in the nine-second video:

“Well, if I’m not elected, there will be a bloodbath, and that’s to say the least. It will be a bloodbath for the country, to say the least. But they won’t be able to sell these cars, they are building giant factories...”

Over the next minute, Trump continued to talk about auto plants in Mexico and his plans to impose a 100 percent tariff on imported cars from abroad.

In this context, the word bloodbath should be understood to mean “economic disaster.” This interpretation is present in dictionary Merriam - Webster along with “massacre” and “fierce struggle.” In English-speaking articles on economic topics, which can be found on Google, a “bloodbath” is often called, for example, a financial crisis, a market collapse, high inflation and other negative phenomena in the economy. Apparently, this is exactly the meaning Trump intended in the word he used.

Screenshot from the Merriam-Webster dictionary website

On March 18, two days after the Ohio rally, Trump commented on the backlash to his statements: “The Fake News Media and their partners in the destruction of our nation, the Democrats, pretended to be shocked that I used the term 'bloodbath,' when they knew full well that I was simply referring to the imports authorized by Dishonorable Joe Biden that are killing the auto industry." wrote he is on the social network Truth Social, which he previously created in response to the blocking of his accounts on Twitter and Facebook.

Thus, Trump, apparently, did not promise bloody clashes across America if he lost the election. Speaking of a “bloodbath,” the politician meant the economic disaster that, in his opinion, awaits the country if Biden carries out the reforms he promised. Out of context, Trump's words took on a different meaning, and it was in this meaning that they were spread by supporters of the US Democratic Party on social networks, and then by the media in different countries.

Cover photo: Wikimedia Commons