Trump says some migrants are ‘not people’ and predicts a ‘bloodbath’ if he loses

Former President Donald J. Trump, at an event ostensibly designed to boost his favored candidate in Ohio’s Republican Senate primaries, delivered a free speech on Saturday in which he used dehumanizing language to describe immigrants, drawing a steady stream of perpetuated insults and vulgarities and predicted that the United States would never have another election if he did not win in November.

With his election battle against President Biden in clear focus, Trump once again doubled down on the doomsday vision of the country that animated his third presidential campaign and energized his base during the Republican primaries.

The dark image resurfaced during his speech. Discussing the American economy and the auto industry, Mr. Trump promised to impose tariffs on cars produced abroad if he wins in November. He added: “If I don’t get elected it will be a bloodbath for the whole – to say the least. It will be a bloodbath for the country.”

For nearly 90 minutes, Trump delivered a discursive speech outside Dayton International Airport in Vandalia, Ohio, full of attacks and caustic rhetoric. He noted several times that he had difficulty reading the teleprompter.

The former president opened his speech by praising the people serving sentences in connection with the January 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol. Mr. Trump, who is facing criminal charges in connection with his efforts to overturn his election loss, called them “hostages” and “incredible patriots,” praised their spirit and pledged to help them if elected in November. He also repeated his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, which have been discredited by a mountain of evidence.

If he doesn’t win this year’s presidential election, Mr. Trump said, “I don’t think there will be another election, or certainly not an election that’s meaningful.”

Trump has also stoked fears about the influx of migrants entering the United States at the southern border. As he did during his successful 2016 campaign, Mr. Trump used inflammatory and dehumanizing language to portray many migrants as threats to American citizens.

He claimed, without evidence, that other countries were emptying their prisons of “young people” and sending them across the border. “I don’t know if you call them ‘people’ in some cases,” he said. “In my opinion, they are not people.” Later he called them ‘animals’.

Border officials, including some who worked in the Trump administration, have said that most migrants crossing the border are members of vulnerable families fleeing violence and poverty, and available data does not support the idea that migrants fuel an increase in crime.

Mr. Trump mentioned Bernie Moreno, his favored Senate candidate in Ohio and a former Cleveland car dealer, only sparingly. Although he has Mr. Trump’s support, Mr. Moreno, whose super PAC organized Saturday’s event, has struggled to distinguish himself in a heated Republican primary that faced Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio, this fall. Mr. Trump was redirected from a planned trip to Arizona to make a last-minute appearance with Mr. Moreno.

Instead, Mr. Trump made vulgar and derogatory comments about a number of Democrats, including those he has often targeted, such as Mr. Biden and Fani Willis, the Atlanta prosecutor overseeing his criminal case in Georgia, as well as those widely regarded as potential future presidential candidates. candidates, such as Governor Gavin Newsom of California and Governor JB Pritzker of Illinois.

Mr Trump called Mr Biden a “stupid president” several times and at one point called him a “stupid son of a…” before stopping. He also compared Ms. Willis’ first name to a vulgarity, called Mr. Newsom “Gavin New-Scum” and lashed out at Mr. Pritzker’s physical appearance.

Mr. Trump’s sharp words were not reserved for national politicians: He briefly took aim at one of Mr. Moreno’s main opponents, Matt Dolan, a wealthy Ohio senator who has surged in recent polls. Returning to his prepared remarks, Mr. Trump said he did not know Mr. Dolan but portrayed him as “trying to be the next Mitt Romney.”

“My position is that anyone who changes the name from the Cleveland Indians to the Cleveland Guardians should not be a senator,” Mr. Trump said, referring to the Ohio baseball team in which Mr. Dolan’s family has a majority stake.

When Mr. Moreno was briefly called back to the podium toward the end of Mr. Trump’s remarks, he praised the former president as a “good man.” But Moreno did not explicitly remind the crowd Tuesday to support him in his Senate bid. For his part, Mr. Trump said Mr. Moreno was a “great guy.”

Mr. Trump’s campaign speeches generally alternate between written remarks and seemingly off-the-cuff digressions. On Saturday, he acknowledged that he had difficulty reading the teleprompter while trying to quote statistics on inflation.

“Everything is fine: the chicken is gone, the bread is gone and I can’t read this damn teleprompter,” Trump said. “This sucker is moving around. It’s like reading a moving flag in a 35 mile per hour wind.”

Then Mr. Trump, who before his presidency was known in New York for refusing to pay his bills to a wide range of service providers, joked about not paying the teleprompter company.

“Then they say Trump is a bad guy, because I will say this: Don’t pay the teleprompter company,” he said as the crowd laughed. “Do not pay.”