“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 guys if I get elected,” Trump said.
“Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the whole – that’s gonna be the least of it. It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country. That’ll be the least of it.”
Part of the reason Democrats, anti-Trump Republicans and political observers pounce on every word out of Trump’s mouth is a broader anxiety about the state of American democracy.
This is primarily based on the 2021 Capitol riot, which saw roughly 140 police officers injured and hundreds of other Trump-aligned individuals charged with trying to overturn the 2020 election.
That Trump was the “central cause” of the attack, according to a 2022 House investigative committee report, is often lost in the day-to-day campaign coverage.