A video posted Monday to Donald Trump's account on his social media network included references to a “united empire” among hypothetical news headlines depicting a November election victory.
The headline appears between messages that flash across the screen, such as “Trump Wins!!” and “The economy is booming!” Other headlines appear to be references to the First World War.
The word “empire” is often largely associated with Nazi Germany's Third Reich, although the references in the video Trump shared appear to be a reference to the formation of the modern pan-German nation, which unites smaller states into a single empire, or empire. in 1871.
Chris DELMAS/AFP via Getty Images
The 30-second video appeared on Trump's account at a time when the presumptive Republican nominee for president, while trying to portray President Biden as soft on anti-Semitism, has himself been repeatedly criticized for using language and rhetoric that were related to Nazi Germany.
It was posted and shared on the former president's Truth Social account while he was having lunch after his hush money trial in Manhattan.
His campaign said the word was not used intentionally.
“This was not a campaign video; it was created by a random account online and reposted by an employee who clearly didn't see the word (reich) while the president was in court,” said campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt. a statement.
But, Agence France-Presse reports, the Biden campaign said in a strong statement in response to the video that Trump has a “long history” of anti-Semitic behavior.
“Donald Trump is not playing games. He is telling America exactly what he plans to do when he regains power: rule as a dictator over a 'united empire,'” Biden-Harris spokesman James Singer said in the statement.
Earlier this month, Trump said at a fundraiser that Mr. Biden runs a “Gestapo administration,” referring to the secret Nazi police.
Trump previously used rhetoric echoing Adolf Hitler when he said immigrants entering the US illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country” and called his opponents “vermin.”
The former president has also been criticized for doing so had dinner with Holocaust-denying white nationalist Nick Fuentes in 2022 and for trivializing the 2017 rally in Charlottesville, Virginiawhere white nationalists chanted, “Jews will not replace us!”
At least one of the headlines in the video appears to be text taken verbatim from a Wikipedia article about World War I: “German industrial strength and production had increased significantly after 1871, driven by the creation of a unified empire.”
In one image, the headlines “Border is closed” and “15 million illegal aliens deported” appear above smaller text showing the start and end dates of World War I.
