Donald Trump ramps up talk of a bloodbath at the border

The former president tells supporters US communities face ‘plunder, rape and slaughter’ at the hands of ­illegal immigrants.

Donald Trump on the stump in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Tuesday. Picture: AFP

Donald Trump reinforced his heavily criticised warning of a looming American “bloodbath” as he told supporters US communities faced “plunder, rape and slaughter” at the hands of ­illegal immigrants.

In some of his most inflammatory comments to date on border security, Mr Trump ­accused President Joe Biden of unleashing “carnage, chaos and killing” in a country he said was flooded with drugs and besieged by foreign criminal gangs.

“I stand before you today to declare that Joe Biden’s border bloodbath … it’s a bloodbath, and it’s destroying our country and it’s a very bad thing happening,” he said in a campaign speech in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

“It’s going to end on the day that I take office.”

The former president – who faces a rematch against Mr Biden in November’s election – spoke out as the Republican ­National Committee launched BidenBloodbath.com, a website warning of an “invasion aided and abetted by Joe Biden”.

While speaking about the ­potential loss of vehicle manufacturing jobs to foreign countries earlier this month in Ohio, Mr Trump said if he wasn’t re-elected, “it’s going to be a bloodbath for the country”.

The Biden campaign and Democrats accused him of ­fomenting “political violence”, prompting an indignant response from Trump aides who said it was clear the former president was using the term to ­describe economic devastation.

Mr Trump referred to illegal immigrants accused of criminality as “animals” in his Michigan speech, highlighting the killings of several young women allegedly by foreign nationals.

“Under crooked Joe Biden every state is now a border state. Every town is now a border town,” he said. “Because Joe Biden has brought the carnage, chaos and killing from all over the world and dumped it straight into our backyards.”

He vowed to stop the “plunder, rape, slaughter and destruction of our American suburbs, cities and towns”.

While illegal border crossings hit record highs during Mr Biden’s presidency, violent crime – in Michigan and nationwide – has been dropping since it spiked under Mr Trump during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic.

The speech came as Mr Trump aims to jump-start his campaign with back-to-back rallies in Michigan and Wisconsin, two swing states crucial to his bid to defeat Mr Biden.

The Republican faces more than 80 felony counts and has been in and out of court for much of the campaign, staging just one rally between his rematch with Mr Biden being set nearly three weeks ago and Tuesday’s event.

During his campaign, Mr Trump has accused migrants of “poisoning the blood” of the country, sparking accusation that he was echoing Nazi language, and has vowed to “root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin” in America.

The Democratic National Committee accused Mr Trump of hypocrisy on immigration, pointing to his pressure on ­Republicans in congress to block a recent cross-party deal that would have secured the most stringent border security measures in a generation.

Tuesday’s first address was something of a homecoming for Mr Trump, who closed out his successful 2016 campaign in Grand Rapids, winning Michigan on the way to claiming the White House.

Mr Biden flipped the state back to the Democrats in 2020, but the polls have Mr Trump in the lead, and the election is likely to come down to the wire. It is also predicted to be tight in neighbouring Wisconsin, where Mr Trump was set to hold his second rally.

Mr Biden has been on a blitz through the swing states in recent weeks, visiting Wisconsin and Michigan as well as Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

He holds a widening lead over his Republican rival in the fundraising stakes, while Mr Trump is burning through money as he pays legal bills to battle multiple criminal and civil court cases.

AFP