Biden fears potential ‘bloodbath’ if Trump loses the election, labels ex-prez ‘genuine danger' to…
Biden believes Trump's intervention will prevent a peaceful transfer of power to Kamala Harris if he loses.
President Joe Biden has broken his silence after dropping out of the 2024 presidential election race. Sitting down Wednesday for his first interview since the decision, the commander-in-chief seemed to have dropped numerous truth (and opinion) bombs in his conversation with CBS News Sunday Morning's Robert Costa at the White House.
Airing this Sunday, the head-turning interview saw Biden address the possibilities of Trump winning this year's election while also considering the “What If” aftermath of Kamala Harris' victory.
Speaking of Trump, the present-day US president said, “He means what he says.”
“All the stuff about, ‘If we lose, there’ll be a bloodbath. It'll have to be a stolen election.'”
What does Biden's “bloodbath” remark allude to
Former President Donald Trump had previously vowed the country would succumb to a “bloodbath” if he lost his re-election bid in November.
“If you’re listening, President Xi — and you and I are friends — but he understands the way I deal. Those big monster car manufacturing plants that you’re building in Mexico right now … you’re going to not hire Americans and you’re going to sell the cars to us, no. 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,” Trump said during a rally in March 2024.
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“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,” he added. “It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country. That will be the least of it. But they’re not going to sell those cars. They’re building massive factories.”
“If this election isn’t won, I’m not sure that you’ll ever have another election in this country,” Trump added.
While the former president's comments painted a different picture of the said “bloodbath," with his campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt telling NBC News, “Biden’s policies will create an economic bloodbath for the auto industry and autoworkers,” Biden's comments have taken a sharp turn. MAGA, including Elon Musk, even went full defensive at the time, accusing Democratic leaders of misquoting Trump's remarks.
The present-day commander-in-chief seemed to dread both arising circumstances in the aftermath of the forthcoming November elections. While he believes that Trump's loss would launch a “bloodbath,” his second-term victory poses another major threat, as Biden called the ex-president a “genuine danger to American security.”
Biden's previous solo interviews, which followed his first presidential debate with Trump in June, sounded an alarming cry for his health. Several political critics and the internet joined in to question his credibility and cognitive capacity to head a second term, with a significant focus on the president's alleged slip-ups and gaffes.
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However, this time, he not only addressed his age and the disastrous debate performance against Trump on June 27, but he also insisted that no serious health concerns were plaguing him. “All I can say is watch. Look, I had a really, really bad day in that debate because I was sick. But I have no serious problem.”
Biden committed to Kamala Harris' election bid
Although he emphasised that he's “not confident at all” in a peaceful transfer of power to Harris, given Trump's position if he loses the election, he hailed her and Tim Walz's partnership as “one hell of a team.”
Biden added that he's been “frequently” in touch with her, and “will be campaigning in other states as well.”
“I’m going to be doing whatever Kamala thinks I can do to help most.”
Biden reveals why he dropped out of the presidential race
The interview also comes after much speculation about why he dropped out of the presidential race. While several reports have underscored that a secret plot was in place to topple Biden from the presidential hopeful's seat for this year, Democratic leaders had insisted against the rumours on countless occasions.
Nevertheless, he finally admitted, “…What happened was, a number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought that I was gonna hurt them in the races. And I was concerned if I stayed in the race, that would be the topic. You'd be interviewing me about 'Why did Nancy Pelosi say …' 'Why did so-and-so …' And I thought it'd be a real distraction, number one.”
“Number two, when I ran the first time, I thought of myself as being a transition president,” he went on. “I can't even say how old I am. It’s hard for me to get it out of my mouth. But things got moving so quickly, it didn't happen.”