Trump won't back down from 'bloodbath' rhetoric on campaign trail
Former President Donald Trump is doubling down on dehumanizing language for migrants on the campaign trail.
According to Politico, "In his first pair of visits to battleground states in 24 days, Trump declared 'every state a border state and every town a border town' at an event in Michigan, before jetting to Wisconsin for a rally in Green Bay. Before splayed photographs of what he said were victims of 'migrant crime' at a roundtable with local and state law enforcement in Grand Rapids, Trump got the kind of campaign-ready visuals he wanted when he celebrated tanking a bipartisan border deal earlier this year."
In fact, data have consistently shown immigrants of all types and legal statuses are less likely to commit crimes than the general population.
But that hasn't stopped Trump from rolling out rhetoric on "Biden's border bloodbath," a term he has already used before to widespread outrage from observers, and his proclamation that immigrants are "animals" — rhetoric that some fear will incite further violence and discrimination.
Notably, the report continued, Trump is pivoting as hard as possible to this issue as Democrats go on the offensive about abortion rights; the former president's Supreme Court picks were responsible for allowing states to enact full bans on the procedure.
"Attendees in a convention center ballroom booed and drowned out a reporter who asked about abortion following Trump’s remarks. The presumptive GOP nominee dodged questions about whether he supported Florida’s six-week abortion ban, telling reporters he’d make additional comments on abortion 'next week,'" said the report.
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"His visit coincided with a barrage of criticism from Democrats over a Florida state Supreme Court ruling that will allow the six-week ban to come into effect in the state. The dueling broadsides on abortion and immigration offered the most vivid glimpse yet of two major policy fronts opening in the early stages of the general election campaign."
"Pressed on the ruling in Florida, his campaign said in a statement that Trump 'supports preserving life but has also made clear that he supports states’ rights because he supports the voters’ right to make decisions for themselves,'" said the report — but this is not deterring key Democratic officials from the attack: "In a press call, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, Rep. Nikema Williams (D-Ga.) and Fentrice Driskell, the Florida state House Democratic leader, all linked Trump to what Williams described as having 'effectively ushered in a de facto abortion ban across the entire southeast of the United States.'"
Florida will vote on a constitutional amendment to protect abortion rights this November, which requires a 60 percent margin to pass. It's one of several states where the issue will be put directly to voters.