Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) believes there will be a bloody clash between “tyrants” and “patriots” if Hillary Clinton wins this year’s presidential election.
“I want us to be able to fight ideologically, mentally, spiritually, economically, so that we don’t have to do it physically,” the tea party politician said in a Saturday speech at the Values Voters Summit, an annual gathering of religious conservatives. “But that may, in fact, be the case.”
Bevin said he was asked in a recent if the nation could “survive” a Clinton presidency, and he responded that it would be “possible” but at a great “price.”
“The roots of the tree of liberty are watered by what?” Bevin continued. “The blood, of who? The tyrants to be sure, but who else? The patriots. Whose blood will be shed? It may be that of those in this room. It might be that of our children and grandchildren.”
Though these comments sounded like a rallying cry, Bevin later told the Lexington Herald Leader that he was referring to the sacrifices made by members of the U.S. military.
“Today we have thousands of men and women in uniform fighting for us overseas and they need our full backing,” he said in a statement. “We cannot be complacent about the determination of radical Islamic extremists to destroy our freedoms.”
A number of prominent conservatives have issued similarly dire or violent warnings of what may come if Donald Trump loses on Election Day.
Michele Bachmann, a former Republican congresswoman who now advises Trump on religious issues and foreign policy, predicted that 2016 would be “the last election” if Clinton wins because demographic shifts would render a future GOP victory impossible. Trump agreed with Bachmann in a September interview, saying people “flowing across the border” would become legalized and vote to keep Republicans out of the White House.
Bevin’s remarks also had echoes of longtime Trump ally Roger Stone, who hs said there would be a “bloodbath” if Clinton is elected.
Watch a clip of Bevin’s speech below via Right Wing Watch:
