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As brutal as Donald Trump’s family-separation policy was during his presidency, the Republican hasn’t ruled out a sequel in a possible second term. In fact, as recently as Friday, the GOP nominee’s running mate, JD Vance, also hedged on whether to expect another round of family separations if voters return Trump to power.
But in case that weren’t quite enough, it was something the Republican presidential hopeful said a day later that was every bit as jarring. As USA Today’s Rex Huppke noted in his latest column:
At his weekend rally in Wisconsin, Trump brought up his sadistic plan to deport millions of immigrants, and he spun a dizzyingly dishonest tale about immigrants: “In Colorado they’re so brazen they’re taking over sections of the state. And you know, getting them out will be a bloody story.”
He did not appear to be kidding.
It’s worth emphasizing for context that the GOP candidate was referring to a bizarre claim about an apartment complex in Colorado — a story that, as my MSNBC colleague Ja’han Jones recently explained, has already been debunked.
But it was the use of the word “bloody” that stood out. As a Washington Post analysis explained, “It’s a pledge not just of the cruelty of ostracism or subjugation. It’s a promise that the purported dangers of immigrants will be met with force, with cracked skulls or — as Trump reportedly suggested while serving as president — gunfire.”
What’s more, let’s not lose sight of the larger pattern. Trump has targeted migrants with dehumanizing rhetoric that echoes Hitler — complaining about migrants “poisoning the blood of our country,” and insisting that migrants are “not humans” — all while promising to create militarized mass deportations and detention camps if voters reward him with a second term. He has even talked about putting migrants into a ring to fight for Americans’ entertainment.
In case that weren’t quite enough, at the recent Republican National Convention, attendees waved professionally made “MASS DEPORTATIONS NOW!” signs, while chanting “Send them back!” on the convention floor.
It was against that backdrop that Trump, who has long talked up the idea of targeting people he doesn’t like with state violence, promised “a bloody story” in his possible second term.
Those looking for evidence of the GOP candidate’s authoritarian vision have plenty of examples to choose from.