Former US President Donald Trump has once again intensified his angry attacks against migrants and the border policies of his successor Joe Biden. At a campaign appearance on Tuesday in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Trump spoke of a “bloodbath” at the border with Mexico caused by the Biden administration's policies. He accused Biden of being responsible for “looting, rape and slaughter” by migrants.
“It's a bloodbath, and it's destroying our country,” said the US Republicans' likely renewed presidential candidate in a speech that was particularly dark and aggressive even by his standards. Trump had already used the term “bloodbath” in a speech in the state of Ohio in March, causing much outrage among his political opponents. At that time, however, he used the term in a speech in which he warned of job losses in the US auto industry.
On Tuesday, however, Trump explicitly spoke of a “bloodbath” in connection with migration policy. “Joe Biden’s border bloodbath (…) is destroying the country,” he said. In a speech filled with dark, apocalyptic tones, Trump described the United States as a country overrun with drugs and under attack by foreign gangs. The right-wing populist accused President Biden of bringing “carnage, chaos and murder from all over the world” into the country.
Trump promised that if he won the November election, he would end these conditions on the first day of his new term in office. In another speech on Tuesday in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the ex-president said he would “once and for all rid the country of deceitful Joe and his migrant armies of dangerous criminals.”
Trump regularly uses the denigrating term “crooked Joe” for his successor Biden, with whom he will most likely compete in a repeat of the 2020 election duel at the polls on November 5th.
Migration policy is a focus of Trump's election campaign. The right-wing populist had already scored points with his aggressive rhetoric on this issue in his election victory in 2016. Parallel to Trump's campaign appearances on Tuesday, the Republican party headquarters launched a website that has the “bloodbath” term in its name: On BidenBloodbath.com, the party warns of an “invasion supported and abetted by Joe Biden.”
The number of migrants entering the United States irregularly has reached record highs under Biden. However, at the same time, the number of violent crimes fell during the Democrat's term in office, while they rose sharply in 2020 – the last year of the Trump presidency. Biden and his Democrats accuse the Republicans of blocking a cross-party compromise in the US Congress that would significantly tighten border policy out of electoral tactics and under pressure from Trump.