A video posted Monday on Trump’s social media account included references to a “unified Reich” among hypothetical news headlines describing his election victory in November. The video drew harsh complaints from President Biden, who accused Trump of “Hitler language. “
The headline appears between flashing messages on the screen such as “Trump wins!!”and “The economy is booming!” Other titles seem to reference World War I.
The word “Reich” is broadly related to Nazi Germany’s Third Reich, though the references in the video shared by Trump appear to be a reference to the formation of the modern pan-Germanist nation, unifying small states into a single Reich or empire. in 1871.
The 30-second video gave the impression that Trump’s account comes at a time when the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, while seeking to portray President Biden as indulgent on anti-Semitism, has been continually criticized for his language and rhetoric related to Nazi Germany.
It was posted and shared on the former president’s Truth Social account while he was on a lunch break after his “hush money” trial in Manhattan. He remained there until his retirement the next morning.
“It’s not a video of the crusade; it was created through a random online account and reposted by a staffer who obviously didn’t see the word (Reich), while the president was in court,” said Karoline Leavitt, press secretary for the crusade. .
The campaign then updated the message to imply that it was posted through a “junior employee. ”
The White House condemned the video shared on Trump’s account.
“It is abhorrent, disgusting and shameful to advertise content related to Adolf Hitler’s German Nazi government,” said Andrew Bates, deputy White House communications director. He added: “Any anti-Semitic dog whistle is harmful and offensive. and profoundly un-American. “
The president, at a campaign event Tuesday in Boston, criticized the message.
“Yesterday his crusade was posted on the internet about the fact that if he wins, it will be a unified Reich, like the Third Reich,” Mr. Biden said. “This is the same guy who uses Hitler’s language, not America’s. “
Earlier this month, Trump at a fundraiser said Biden was running a “Gestapo administration,” a reference to the Nazi secret police force.
Trump has already used rhetoric that echoes Adolf Hitler when he declared that America’s illegal immigrants “poison the blood of our country” and called their warring parties “vermin. “
The former president also sparked widespread backlash for having dinner with Holocaust-denying white nationalist Nick Fuentes in 2022 and downplaying the 2017 rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where white nationalists chanted “Jews will update us!
At least one of the headlines in the video appears to be text copied verbatim from a Wikipedia access to World War I: “German trading strength and production increased dramatically after 1871, driven by the creation of a unified Reich. “
In one image, the headlines “The border is closed” and “15 million illegal extraterrestrial beings deported” appear above smaller text with the start and end dates of World War I.