Cassidy says Trump’s ‘blood bath’ rhetoric concerning to some voters

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said in a Sunday interview that former President Trump’s remarks on immigrants and about the possibility of a “blood bath” if he is not reelected is what makes some voters concerned about a second Trump administration.

He added, however, that the media goes “just a little bit too far” in covering the remarks, saying Trump could have been warning of an economic “blood bath,” rather than invoking political violence in his remarks.

“The general tone of the speech is why, is why many Americans continue to wonder: ‘Should President Trump be president?’ That kind of rhetoric, it’s always on the edge — maybe doesn’t cross, maybe does, depending upon your perspective,” Cassidy said in an interview on NBC News’s “Meet the Press.”

“I also think though, that the mainstream media contributes to it. If you take the one about the blood bath, which arguably could be about an economic blood bath, not about kind of street violence related to the election, then it gives his defenders something to focus on, something which was distorted. So, yes, he always walks up to the edge on that rhetoric. And again, that’s why people are concerned. But sometimes the mainstream media, whether they want to or not, can’t resist, and they go just a little bit too far, which distracts from what could be the impact,” Cassidy said.

Cassidy’s comments come after Trump made headlines Saturday night when he said, “I don’t know if you can call them people,” referring to some undocumented immigrants accused of crimes.

“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 added.

He also warned of potential consequences if he loses the November election, saying President Biden would tank the 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.

Cassidy distanced himself from the position of the Biden campaign, which denounced the comments as part of Trump’s “threats of political violence.”

“That’s their perspective. They’ve got a candidate who also doesn’t seem fit for office. But you could also look up the definition of blood bath, and it could be an economic disaster. And so if he’s speaking about the auto industry, in particular in Ohio, then you can take it with a little bit more context,” Cassidy said. “That’s why I say you walk up to the line, depending upon the perspective somebody is going to interpret it.”

“He’s running against Biden, so Biden’s gonna say it’s about political violence. His defenders want to defend them. And so they’re gonna say it’s about economic disaster. There’s always just that little bit of tension there. Which allows the dispute about the interpretation, as opposed to the kind of general sort of ‘is this the person we want to have an office,’” Cassidy said.

Trump’s campaign has denounced efforts to link Trump’s “blood bath” remarks with calls for political violence.

“Crooked Joe Biden and his campaign are engaging in deceptively, out-of-context editing that puts Roman Polanski to shame. They are the ones engaging in leveraging judicial lawfare to go after their main political opponent— President Trump— because he is crushing Joe in the polls,” Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung wrote in a statement.

“There isn’t any amount of special medicine they can inject him with to make him look alive, behave normally, or stop him from falling on his ass all the time,” he added.

Updated at 5:47 pm.