Conservatives blow up Trump world's 'misguided' defense of 'bloodbath' comment

Donald Trump on Saturday claimed that there would be a "bloodbath" if he isn't elected president, and fans of the former president were quick to argue the comment should be ignored because he was referencing the auto industry at the time. But some conservatives are pushing back against that notion.

After Trump made the comments regarding the potential "bloodbath," the internet struck quickly at the ex-president. But soon after came those on the right labeling it a hoax.

Trump loyalist Lauren Boebert (R-CO), for instance, used the moment to attack President Joe Biden, labeling him a "spoiled turnip."

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"They’re really doing the 'bloodbath' hoax now," Boebert said on Sunday. "The dishonesty of the media is only going to get worse and worse as this election season goes on. Trump is running against a spoiled turnip. This kind of trickery is literally all they have."

But some conservatives aren't interested in ignoring the violent rhetoric.

Army Iraq War Veteran Peter Henlein, a Ron DeSantis supporter, explained on social media that Trump's comments are already being distorted by his supporters.

"See...Trump didn't say 'It's going to be a bloodbath for the auto industry' and then the media cut off the words 'auto industry,'" he explained Sunday in reference to a post with a manufactured Trump quote. "He said: 'Now If 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 whole country.' It's fine to say Trump was talking about auto industry, but don't change his quotes to make them more for favorable."

Conservative attorney George Conway also chimed in on the issue.

"There’s some commentary on here saying we should disregard Trump’s 'bloodbath' remarks last night because he was talking about potential harms to the auto industry. That is misguided," Conway said. "Trump may well have been referring to a 'bloodbath' in that industry. He’s sufficiently incoherent that, as is so often the case with him, it’s hard to tell one way or the other what exactly he’s talking about at any given moment. I’m willing to assume for the sake of argument that he was referring to cars. And it makes no difference to his malicious intent or to the danger he and his rhetoric poses."

"What matters," Conway added, "is that he consistently uses apocalyptic and violent language in an indiscriminate fashion as a result of his psychopathy and correlative authoritarian tendencies, and because he’s just plain evil."

He continued:

"It’s a classic trait and technique of authoritarian demagogues. He catastrophizes *everything* to rile up his cultish supporters, and to bind them to him, and to make them willing to do his bidding. That’s dangerous all around because he’s encouraging them to believe that conditions are so bad or will become so bad, and that the political opposition is so awful, that anything is justified—including law-breaking and violence—to prevent those conditions and to destroy the opposition."

So, for Conway, "it doesn’t matter what he’s specifically referring to at the moment. He could be talking about trans people in public bathrooms or the state of the auto industry or the border—it doesn’t matter."

"He’s a dangerous psychopath, and after more than eight years of watching his sick behavior, we must not give him the benefit of the doubt," the attorney concluded.

Another conservative, former Republican lawmaker Joe Walsh, echoed Conway's comments.

"Trump deserves ZERO benefit of the doubt," Walsh said. "He’s spewed & incited so much hatred, cruelty, lying, ignorance, fear, & violence the past 8-9 yrs, it doesn’t matter if this time he was just talking about cars. He deserves ZERO benefit of the doubt."