For the theorist of Nazism Joseph Goebbels, "repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth." One of the fundamental tasks of the media is not only not to lie, but also to warn of the lies of others to prevent them from being repeated a thousand times. Unfortunately, it´s neither one thing nor the other.
Last weekend, Donald Trump gave a campaign speech in Ohio in which he outlined Joe Biden's economic policy and warned of its consequences if the president wins re-election in November. The Republican candidate placed special emphasis on the automotive industry, greatly damaged during Biden's current mandate as a consequence of so called 'green' policies, surrender to the electric vehicle or Chinese expansion in America with the construction of automobile plants in Mexico.
In this context, Trump indicated that, if elected president, he would impose a 100% tariff on these vehicles to defend national production. The opposite case - a new electoral victory for Biden - would mean "a bloodbath" for the country and the automobile industry.
"Bloodbath." The establishment media already had the perfect ingredients to manufacture their new fake news: their archenemy Donald Trump and some supposedly violent words. From there, the story came together and the media created the false headline with which to spread their lie: "Trump threatens a bloodbath if he does not win the elections." IT'S FALSE.
The media is lying about Donald Trump with this narrative about a “bloodbath” if he loses the election. He was very clearly talking about the car manufacturing industry—before and after he used the word.
You have to be extremely disingenuous to take what he’s saying out of… pic.twitter.com/qhctYGpi7K
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) March 17, 2024
As you can see, the media brought out all their artillery to spread the lie. Some used Trump's cut and decontextualized phrase. Others even mixed it with statements about immigration that have absolutely nothing to do with that "bloodbath." The New York Times, CNBC, The Teleghaph, Politico, The Washington Post... They all share the false misinformative headline in a practically identical way, as if a higher entity had dictated it to them and thereby abandoning the most basic good journalistic practices. Only a few, like in this case CNN, do add the context that Donald Trump was referring to: the auto industry.
These screenshots are mostly from the mainstream American establishment media. But the lie goes further and in countries like Spain, most of the media limited themselves to replicating this falsehood without carrying out even the most basic task of verification or, even worse, trying to purposely misinform their audience.
🔴 FAKE NEWS | El Mundo, ABC, El País, TVE… Los medios generalistas se sincronizan para lanzar el bulo de que Donald Trump prevé “un baño de sangre” si pierde las elecciones.
Sin embargo, el expresidente ha dicho que si no gana sufrirán una sagría las empresas automovilísticas. pic.twitter.com/pzTcgp4V2L
— Unai Cano (@unaicano10) March 17, 2024
The Democratic Party and the media are committed to spreading the lie about Trump's "bloodbath"
With the invaluable help of the media, the Democratic Party insisted on spreading the lie of the "bloodbath." Joe Biden's campaign communications director, Michael Tyler, said Sunday on MSNBC's Inside show that former President Donald Trump's comment about the bloodbath was an "endorsement of political violence."
Likewise, other prominent Democrats such as Nancy Pelosi contributed to spreading this falsehood. The former speaker of the House of Representatives, in statements to CNN's State of The Union program, stressed that Democrats "have to win this election" following Trump’s "bloodbath" remarks, in reference to Trump's words and before the indifferent gaze from host Dana Bash. Once again, politicians and the media go hand in hand in their eagerness to spread lies and fuel the discourse of fear that suits the Democratic Party so well. And all this has happened in the era of journalistic verification or factcheck and with statements accessible to everyone. Imagine where the media can go with other information that is more difficult to contrast!
And all this has occurred in the midst of the age of journalistic fact-checking and with statements that are accessible to everyone. Imagine where the media can go with other information that is more difficult to verify!
Among so many lies, there were several who tried to come out in defense of the truth. Some surprisingly like Mike Pence, former ally and now rival of the former president; or Elon Musk, who lamented the drift of falsehoods in which traditional media are immersed.
#WATCH | Mike Pence about the bloodbath hoax:
🗣️ "The president was clearly talking about the impact of imports devastating the American automotive industry" pic.twitter.com/DWJ9tn7ok0
— VOZ (@Voz_US) March 17, 2024
Over time the newspapers have been fading away in relevance.
Not gone, just as writing and mailing paper letters still happens, but no longer the way most people know what’s going on. https://t.co/wddHGdDOqF
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 18, 2024
