For the "Pbs newshour," I'm Nick schifrin. Geoff: Former president Donald Trump is under fire again for comments made during a controversial speech at a campaign event for a Republican Ohio senate candidate. Extremism experts say it's the latest example of Donald Trump using violent rhetoric to appeal to his supporters.
At a campaign rally in Ohio Saturday, a tribute to those charged and convicted of crimes connected to the January 6 attack on the U. S. Capitol.
>> Please rise for the horribly and unfairly treated January 6 hostages. Geoff: And a vow from the former president to release them. >> We're going to work with the people to treat those unbelievable patriots.
Geoff: As his use of the word "Bloodbath" during an extended riff on the auto industry and Chinese automakers sparked fresh controversy and criticism. >> 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 will be the least of it. Geoff: In a social post social media post today, Mr Trump said his threat had been taken out of context, and turned the defense of his comments into a fundraising appeal. Former president trump also facing criticism for his dehumanizing anti-immigrant rhetoric at the same rally.
>> If I had prisons that were teeming with ms-13 and all sorts of people that they've got to take care of for the next 50 years, right? Young people that are in jail for years, if you call them people. I don't know if you call them people.
In some cases, they're not people in my opinion. Geoff: And in a Fox News interview Sunday, he doubled down on past comments about migrants that echoed dictators. >> Why do you use words like "Vermin" and "Poisoning of the blood?
" The press, as you know, immediately reacts to that by saying, well, that's the kind of language that hitler and mussolini used. >> Well that's what they say. I didn't know that.
But that's what they say. Because our country is being poisoned. Geoff: Experts who study extremism say the former president's bloodbath remark is just part of an escalating campaign of violent rhetoric.
>> In this case, it may have been a metaphor. It's hard to tell with him. And we should be very worried with how mundane it now seems.
Geoff: President Biden's campaign in a statement, responding to Donald Trump's rally remarks, said quote, he 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.
