A campaign video posted to former President Trump’s Truth Social page on Monday included a note about establishing a “unified Reich” and other references to the German Empire as hypothetical headlines should he win the 2024 election.
The video was widely criticized online, including by the Biden campaignwhich he said was “echoing Nazi Germany”.
The headline appears between messages flashing on the screen, such as “Trump wins!!” and “Economic booms!” Other headlines appear to be references to the First World War.
The video comes at a time when the supposed Republican candidate is already facing criticism for using language linked to Nazi Germany.
The rhetoric in the campaign video seems to come from a video template found online, titled “Vintage Newspaper History Headlines Promotion.” The template’s main headlines reference the history of Germany and the World Wars, reading things like “World War II Begins, September 1939.”
The text that references a “unified Reich” in the video appears to have been taken verbatim from a Wikipedia entry for World War I and is part of the model.
“This was not a campaign video, it was created by a random online account and reposted by a staffer who clearly did not see the word, while the president was in court,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told Associated Press, in a statement.
Trump has previously faced criticism for claiming that President Biden runs a “Gestapo administration,” referring to the Nazi secret police force. He was also widely rebuked for saying that immigrants who enter the U.S. illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country,” and called his opponents “worms,” language that echoed Adolf Hitler.
The Biden campaign’s attacks add to attempts to link a second Trump administration to authoritarianism and revenge. The campaign repeatedly warned that the former president would use a second term to exact revenge on his political enemies.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
