Trump lashes out at ‘fake news media’ over coverage of ‘bloodbath’ comments

Former president Donald Trump has accused the media of willfully misinterpreting his prediction during a rally appearance over the weekend that his defeat in November’s election would result in a “bloodbath”.

Speaking in Dayton, Ohio, on Saturday evening as he stumped for Republican primary candidate Bernie Moreno, Mr Trump used the phrase as he warned of dire economic consequences for an American auto industry under pressure from China without him back in the White House.

“If I don’t get elected it’s going to be a bloodbath for the country,” he declared.

The Republican presidential challenger’s choice of words sparked an immediate outcry, with the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris campaign issuing a statement by way of response in which they warned that their rival “wants another January 6, but the American people are going to give him another electoral defeat this November because they continue to reject his extremism, his affection for violence, and his thirst for revenge”.

Also commenting on the phrase on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday morning was former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, who said: “We just have to win this election because he’s even predicting a bloodbath. What does that mean? He’s going to exact a bloodbath? There’s something wrong here.

“How much more do [the American people] have to see from him to understand that this isn’t what our country is about?”

On Monday morning, Mr Trump hit back, claiming in an angry post on his Truth Social platform that the media had only “pretended to be shocked” by his choice of words.

“The Fake News Media, and their Democrat Partners in the destruction of our Nation, pretended to be shocked at my use of the word BLOODBATH, even though they fully understood that I was simply