Donald Trump returned to the campaign trial for a New Hampshire rally where he revived “blood and soil” rhetoric, approvingly quoted Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orban, and referred to January 6 defendants as “hostages”.
He repeated his statement that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of the country,” drawing warnings against his increasingly volatile rhetoric as he seeks the Republican nomination for president.
As the US approaches the third anniversary of the Capitol attack, fuelled by his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him, he said of people jailed in connection: “I don’t call them prisoners, I call them hostages.”
His visit came one day after a federal jury ruled that his former lawyer Rudy Giuliani owes almost $150m for smearing former Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss by falsely accusing them of engaging in election fraud.
After his four-day defamation trial and a day of deliberation, eight jurors unanimously agreed that the former New York mayor should pay each plaintiff approximately $16m in compensation, an additional $20m each for intentional infliction of emotional distress, and a further $75m in punitive damages.
Mr Giuliani was unrepentant outside the courthouse and said he would appeal.
Key Points
• Trump revives ‘blood and soil’ rhetoric at New Hampshire rally
• Rudy Giuliani owes defamed election workers nearly $150 million, jury rules
• Intelligence on Russia disappeared during Trump admin, report says
• Judge pauses Trump federal election case pending appeal on presidential immunity
• And no, Trump didn’t rant about lemonade
Trump’s rhetoric grows increasingly violent on the campaign trail
Trump’s latest remarks in New Hampshire have drawn warnings about his increasingly violent, autocratic rhetoric on the campaign trail.
Jennifer Mercieca, an historian of American political rhetoric and professor at Texas A&M University who wrote 2020’s Demagogue for President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump, says that the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for president “seesAmerican democracy as a sham and he wants to convince his followers to see it that way too.”
“Putin hates western values like democracy and the rule of law, so does Trump,” she told The Washington Post.
Republicans have largely shrugged off his statements. Here’s how we got here:
Trump’s violent rhetoric charts his campaign warpath
Biden campaign blasts Trump: ‘Parroted Adolf Hitler’
14:30 , Alex Woodward
Following Donald Trump’s widely condemned statements in New Hampshire on Saturday, when he repeated his inflammatory statement that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of the country,” Joe Biden’s presidential campaign said his likely 2024 rival was “channeling his role models.”
“Tonight Donald Trump channeled his role models as he parroted Adolf Hitler, praised Kim Jong Un, and quoted Vladimir Putin while running for president on a promise to rule as a dictator and threaten American democracy,” spokesperson Ammar Moussa said.
“He is betting he can win this election by scaring and dividing this country,” he added. “He’s wrong. In 2020, Americans chose President Biden’s vision of hope and unity over Trump’s vision of fear and division – and they’ll do the same next November.”
