If Donald Trump manages to recapture the White House or overcome his multiple lawsuits, it will be because of his opponents' overwhelming incompetence, dishonesty and short-sightedness. And featuring prominently among those "opponents" are many members of the news media.

On March 16, Trump told a crowd in Dayton, Ohio that President Biden's re-election would result in a "bloodbath" for the U.S. auto industry. It wasn't hard to understand what he was talking about. However, the Biden campaign, working fist-in-glove with the press, responded at once, accusing the presumptive Republican nominee of threatening a literal massacre should he be denied the White House a second time.

Trump said nothing of the sort. But members of the press and Democratic operatives appear to have learned nothing from the 2016 election. They should know by now, but do not, that flooding the airwaves with made-up scandals only advertises the Trump campaign, emboldens him and his followers, and radicalizes many potential swing voters.

"Tonight," the Biden-Harris campaign said in a hastily issued statement, "Donald Trump said there would be a 'bloodbath' if he wasn't elected and that if he lost, there would be no more election."

The statement added, "This is who Donald Trump is: a loser who gets beat by over 7 million votes and then, instead of appealing to a wider mainstream audience, doubles down on his threats of political violence."

In actuality, Trump had been discussing China's efforts to circumvent tariffs and trade barriers by building its cars in Mexico.

"We're going to put a 100 percent 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," he said. "Now, if I don't........

© The Hill