During his comments regarding a loss of U.S. auto manufacturing jobs at a rally in Ohio, former President Donald Trump cautioned that if he were not elected, there would be a “bloodbath.”
“We’re going to put a 100% tariff on every single car that comes across the line, and you’re not going to be able to sell those cars. If I get elected. Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath, for the whole — that’s going to be the least of it. It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country. That’ll be the least of it. But they’re not going to sell those cars.”
Anyone with common sense understood the meaning of “bloodbath” in this context. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a “bloodbath” is a significant economic disaster. News organizations and politicians have used it many times in this context, and it’s quite different from its other definition as a “notably fierce, violent, or destructive contest or struggle.”
Politicians and media often use “bloodbath” to describe various situations, usually to emphasize significant losses or drastic changes. For example, it was used in headlines to describe staff cuts at the Republican National Committee when Michael Whatley became the chair.
In 2023, the term was used to describe staff layoffs in the media industry.
It’s a term used in political discourse, economic discussions, and other contexts where dramatic language conveys the gravity of a situation.
Unless you’re Donald Trump, who uses the term to inexplicably call for political violence in the middle of speaking about the automotive industry in Ohio, where car imports have negatively impacted the economy.
Naturally, the Biden administration posted videos of Trump uttering the phrase, “If I’m not elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the country,” and proudly pointed to it as a call for violence. A call which, according to some liberals, must be answered with violence.
Extremely specific violence, in the case of CNN’s James Carville. In a recent sit-down with Anderson Cooper, Carville explained that Team Biden should be doing the “wet work” on Trump. “Wet work” is another word for assassination.
“President Biden is not the best attack politician I’ve ever seen in my life, and I’ll leave it at that. But there are a lot of people to do what I call ‘the wet work.'”
Cooper cut in, “Sounds like a mob hit.”
Carville answered, “Well, it’s kind of, but it’s paid TV and stuff like that. But yes, that’s a CIA term,” Carville said. ”Take a guy out.”
Now, it would be easy to think of Carville’s “wet work” comments as a symbolic way of saying the Biden Team should be covering the Trump campaign in dirt if this was Carville’s first comment about violence against Trump.
But it’s not.
In January, Jen Psaki asked Carville how he would manage Trump. His response was, “We are going after him with a meat cleaver,” adding that it was a “rhetorical” meat cleaver. Later in the discussion, he said that Team Biden needs to “keep the foot on this guy, right on his neck, take our heel, and twist it.”
In February, Carville delivered another gem, telling CNN anchor Jim Acosta that when you tear somebody down, “you just kick the living, you know what, out of them,” adding that, in his opinion, that’s what the White House and Democrats need to do. “Jump on this early and tank them.”
Violence seems to be the love language of Democrats, many of whom have encouraged attacks on conservatives. Maxine Waters faced controversy in April 2021 for comments made during a protest in Minnesota, where she encouraged confrontation if officer Derek Chauvin was acquitted in the George Floyd case. However, Waters later said she was advocating for nonviolent protest.
Similarly, in March 2020, Chuck Schumer’s remarks at an abortion rights rally were a clear and direct threat to conservative Supreme Court justices. However, Schumer also later said that he intended to highlight potential political consequences rather than threats of bodily harm.
Semantic change happens when words change meaning over time. This can occur due to cultural shifts, technological advances, or social attitudes. It might cause a word’s meaning to become broader, narrower, or even take on an entirely new sense. It’s not surprising that Democrats would be alarmed by the term “bloodbath.” Their definition of violence includes January 6, while they call the summer of 2020 “a peaceful protest.” It seems that Democrats, already controlling everything Americans hear and say, can also control the definition of words and perform a little “semantic change” as necessary to push a point home.
It’s a bloodbath for the English language.
