Bloodbath

Trump: "Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s gonna be a bloodbath. That’s going to be the least of it. It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country."

The foreign press noticed the word "bloodbath." So did Democrats.

I woke up yesterday morning to headlines like this from India, Brazil, Australia, and Africa. Their media know the warning signs of a fragile country.

This morning was more of the same. Here is MSNBC on my kitchen TV. A panel warns that Trump threatens violence.

This is a good case for untangling the real message from the denoted one. Trump said "bloodbath" in the context of saluting the "hostages" convicted of invading the U.S. Capitol in search of the Vice President and members of Congress. Trump played a recording of the prisoners singing. He saluted them, called them "unbelievable patriots," and promised to pardon them. His overarching message was a threat, saying if he wasn't elected to expect violence. He was giving permission to his supporters, putting it on the table as new norm, an expectation. Connect the two events: Trump loses and bloodbath.

But not exactly. Trump's speech was scattered and confusing, but his literal and immediate context was that the American automobile industry would be a bloodbath of failed auto companies. Why? Because Biden would not impose the huge tariffs that Trump was proposing. Trump did not say it would be a bloodbath of rioting Trump supporters -- not literally, not exactly, not right then. You caught the distinction if you paid close attention.

This is Trump as his most cynical and effective. He gets across a threat while having deniability. Indeed, he and his allies call him a victim, saying Democrats are taking him out of context. Yesterday's Sunday show guests included U.S. Rep Mike Turner, in whose district Trump spoke, saying to ABC host Martha Raddatz:

I want to congratulate you, Martha, that you correctly identified that the president’s statements concerning ‘bloodbath’ were about what would happen in the auto industry.

Sometimes "accurate" is the enemy of "true." I am content to be accurate, but that does not absolve Trump. The "bloodbath" speech reveals his cunning. Trump knew better than to tell Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger to "manufacture" 11,000 votes. He said to "find" them. That was smart and careful. Trump operates in the shadows of the law. One does not create a paper record telling an accountant to "invent" deductions. Just tell the accountant what needs to happen. He will understand.

"Be there. It will be WILD," Trump tweeted.

"He wants us to make it WILD," an Oath Keeper leader wrote in response to other Oath Keepers. "He called us all to the Capitol and told us to make it wild!!! Sir. Yes sir!!!"

People get it.

And on January 6 2021:

You don't concede when there's theft involved. Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore. . . . You will have an illegitimate president. That is what you will have, and we can't let that happen. . . .If you don't fight like hell you're not going to have a country anymore'. . . . I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.

"Peacefully and patriotically." He dropped in the disclaimer, his get-out-of-jail-card. The people at the Capitol on January 6 got the message to scare Mike Pence and the Congress into throwing out Biden's electoral votes. They heard the fight like hell. But he didn't say climb through windows and make your way to the Vice President. Not exactly. But they got it.

Trump is free. They are in prison. 

For decades Trump has been communicating like a mob-boss worried about wire-taps. He is well-practiced and good at it. It kept him from being convicted in an impeachment vote and it may well keep him out of prison now. 

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