In response to a Trump-Vance campaign surrogate threatening a “civil war” if they lose in November, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement: 

“Instead of talking about unity, MAGA Republicans can’t stop threatening political violence and undermining our democratic system. It’s horrifying and shameful, but it’s what we expect from the campaign of a ticket that has repeatedly defended dictators, promoted dangerous election-denying conspiracy theories, and tried to whitewash the violent January 6 insurrection.”

At JD Vance’s first solo rally as Donald Trump’s VP nominee, a campaign surrogate threatened “a civil war to save the country” if the Trump-Vance ticket loses this November.

Trump-Vance surrogate Ohio State Senator George Lang: “I believe wholeheartedly Donald Trump and Butler County’s JD Vance are the last chance to save our country. Politically, I’m afraid if we lose this one, it’s going to take a civil war to save the country – and it will be saved.”

Trump continues to praise and promise pardons for violent January 6 rioters – who he calls “hostages” and “patriots.” 

TIME: “Trump has sought to recast the insurrectionist riot as an act of patriotism. ‘I call them the J-6 patriots,’ Trump tells TIME. When asked whether he would consider pardoning every one of them, he says: ‘Yes, absolutely.’”

​​Washington Post: ​​“Former president Donald Trump on Thursday praised and embraced a woman convicted of defying police orders on the U.S. Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021. … Trump has steadily escalated his advocacy for people charged in the Capitol riot, including by pledging to pardon them if he returns to the White House, praising them as patriots, participating in a recording with Jan. 6 prisoners singing the national anthem, and playing it at his first rally of the 2024 campaign last month.”

The Hill: “Trump describes imprisoned Jan. 6 rioters as ‘hostages’”

Washington Post: “Trump vows pardons, government apology to Capitol rioters if elected”

NBC News: “Former President Donald Trump promised Wednesday night that if he is elected he will pardon a ‘large portion’ of the people convicted of federal offenses for their participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.”

Trump: “January 6, it was the largest crowd I’ve ever spoken to. And they were there proud, they were there with love in their heart. That was an unbelievable — and it was a beautiful day.”

Business Insider: “Then-President Donald Trump didn’t want to specifically call for the Justice Department to prosecute January 6 rioters or forcefully condemn those who stormed the Capitol as unrepresentative of the MAGA movement.”

NBC News: “Trump spoke at a fundraiser for Jan. 6 defendants”

Trump has threatened political violence and warned of a “bloodbath” if he loses in November, and he is vowing to be a dictator on “day one” if he wins.

TIME: “Donald Trump Says Political Violence ‘Depends’ on ‘Fairness’ of 2024 Election”

Edward-Isaac Dovere, CNN: “Many people have lost American presidential elections over the last 230 years – Trump is the only one to say about violence if he loses ‘it depends.’”

NBC News: “Trump says there will be a ‘bloodbath’ if he loses the election”

Rolling Stone: “Trump Says There Will Be a ‘Bloodbath’ and Elections Will End if He Isn’t Reelected”

New York Times: “Trump Defends His Warning of a ‘Blood Bath for the Country’”

The Atlantic: “Trump Says He’ll Be a Dictator on ‘Day One’”

Associated Press: “Trump declines to rule out abusing power to seek retribution if he returns to the White House”

Washington Post: “Trump calls political enemies ‘vermin,’ echoing dictators Hitler, Mussolini”

The Guardian: “Donald Trump says he will lock up his political enemies if he is president again.”

Forbes: “Trump said of his relationships with dictators, ‘the tougher and meaner they are, the better I get along with them,’ which he insisted is ‘not a bad thing.’ 

“‘The easy ones,’ Trump said, referring to America’s allies, ‘I maybe don’t like as much or don’t get along with as much.’”