After Donald Trump’s controversial remarks warning of a “bloodbath” should he lose the presidential election in November, similar comments made by Joe Biden during the 2020 primary have been resurfaced online.
Talking at a campaign rally in Ohio on Saturday, the former president and the Republican 2024 presidential candidate predicted that the country is headed towards a “bloodbath” in November if he loses the election against the Democratic incumbent. “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,” he said, while commenting on the situation of the U.S. auto workers and car industry.
He later added: “I don’t think you’re going to have another election in this country, if we don’t win this election… certainly not an election that’s meaningful.”
While several Republicans, including Trump’s former Vice President Mike Pence, have defended the former president’s remarks saying he was clearly referring to the U.S. car industry, some saw the comments as a threat of another January 6.
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“What does that mean, he’s going to exact a bloodbath? There’s something wrong here,” Democratic former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said during Sunday’s CNN’s State of the Union. “How respectful I am of the American people and their goodness, but how much more do they have to see from him to understand that this isn’t what our country is about?”
“This is who Donald Trump is,” a statement from Biden’s re-election campaign said, commenting on the remarks.
But social media users have resurfaced similar remarks from Biden made during the 2020 Democratic primary, where the now-president faced then-rival Bernie Sanders.
“Joe Biden THREATENED Bernie Sanders with a ‘BLOODBATH’ in the 2020 Primary. This is disqualifying and terrifying,” wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, a conservative user who said they were reinstated on the social media platform by Elon Musk after being previously banned.
The post has gone viral on social media, where it’s been viewed more than 656,800 times. “When Democrat politicians incite violence it’s OK as far as the media is concerned,” commented another user.
But Biden’s 2020 remark has been taken out of context by Trump supporters.
In March 2020, as the contest was narrowing around the former vice president and the progressive Democrat, Biden warned against the primary campaign becoming an internal “bloodbath” between Democrats which could have weakened the party and allowed Trump to win.
“What we can’t let happen is let this primary become a negative bloodbath,” Biden told a crowd of Democratic donors gathered in Bethesda, Maryland, as reported by POLITICO.
“I know I’m going to get a lot of suggestions on how to respond to what I suspect will be an increasingly negative campaign that the Bernie brothers will run. But we can’t tear this party apart and re-elect Trump. We have to keep our eyes on the ball, in my view,” he added, referring to a figure that was then known as “Bernie bros,” those ride-or-die Sanders’ supporters unwilling to back another Democratic candidate and aggressively attacking opponents online.
While Biden’s 2020 comment about a potential bloodbath was clearly referred to an internal fight within the Democratic Party which could have weakened the presidential candidate for the last election, some Trump supporters online have resurfaced the president’s remark in direct comparison to Trump’s most recent one.
Newsweek contacted the White House for comment by email early on Monday.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.