'Knew What He Was Doing': MSNBC's Joe Scarborough Slams Ex-Pal Trump's Defense of 'Bloodbath' Remarks
March 18 2024, Published 12:30 p.m. ET
MSNBC host Joe Scarborough slammed former president Donald Trump's defense of his "bloodbath" remarks at a rally over the weekend as "bull----" in a scathing reaction on Monday, RadarOnline.com has learned.
As we previously reported, the GOP frontrunner vowed to impose tariffs on cars manufactured outside the United States and warned that if he wasn't elected in November, "That's going to be the least of it. It's going to be a bloodbath for the country."
The Trump campaign clarified that he was only referring to the auto industry when he said the controversial comment before a crowd in Dayton, Ohio, on Saturday, having since doubled down that he was simply alluding to the imports allowed by President Joe Biden.
The 2024 hopeful, meanwhile, said his use of the word is being grossly taken out of context, a topic Scarborough brought up on MSNBC's Morning Joe alongside wife Mika Brzezinski.
"I've never really heard people discuss macroeconomics, in terms of bloodbaths. But maybe, maybe so. But let's just say for argument's sake," Scarborough explained while sounding off about Trump on Monday. "But then he says, 'and that's going to be the least of it.'"
"Even if you take that argument at face value, which again, given the tone of the rest of the speech, 'bloodbath'? I'm not so sure he's talking about the niceties of international trade there."
The media personality said that he took Trump's words at face value, adding, "Obviously, he's talking about a bloodbath for America. It's laid out in the terms of it."
Scarborough blasted the "idiots" on Twitter and cable news networks who said that Trump was clearly only referring to the auto industry, and said he wasn't falling for it.
"It's just bull----. Let me say that at 6:15 a.m., it's just bull----. He knew what he was doing. We're not stupid. Americans aren't stupid," the MSNBC host declared. "He was talking about a bloodbath. Sometimes a bloodbath means a bloodbath. And when you finish this by saying, 'and that's just going to be the least of it' … Seriously, these people may be stupid. We're not."
In his own response to the backlash on Truth Social, Trump stood by his campaign statement and noted "the United Auto Workers, but not their leadership, fully understand what I mean."
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The former president continued, "With the Electric Car Mandate being pushed by Biden, there soon won't be any cars made in the USA — UNLESS I'M ELECTED PRESIDENT, IN WHICH CASE AUTO MANUFACTURING WILL THRIVE LIKE NEVER BEFORE!!!"