A video posted Monday by Donald Trump’s Truth Social account shows hypothetical headlines speaking of a “unified reich” if he wins the 2024 presidential election – language that drew fierce criticism from incumbent Joe Biden’s campaign.
“What happens after Donald Trump wins? What’s next for America?” a voice-over asks in the 30-second clip, which flashes a series of fictitious headlines addressing American prosperity.
Amid a series of headlines including “Economy booms!” and “Border is closed”, one mentions “the creation of a unified reich”.
No direct reference to Nazis is made in the clip, but the word “reich” is commonly used in reference to the Third Reich of Nazi Germany, led by Adolf Hitler.
Other references in the video, which appeared to have multiple copy-and-pasted chunks of text to fill out the “newspaper” background, mention World War I. The “unified reich” headline appears to reference the 1871 unification of Germany.
It was posted and shared on the former president’s Truth Social account while Trump was on a lunch break from his Manhattan hush money trial.
“This was not a campaign video, it was created by a random account online and reposted by a staffer who clearly did not see the word, while the President was in court,” Karoline Leavitt, the campaign press secretary, said in a statement.
The post comes as the former leader has repeatedly sought to portray Biden as failing to curb antisemitism in the United States during a period of rising tensions fuelled by the war in Gaza.
Trump himself has faced criticism for invoking Nazi-like rhetoric, including repeatedly speaking of immigrants as “vermin” who are “poisoning the blood” of the United States.
While president, Trump in 2017 described some neo-Nazi marchers during violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia – who had chanted “Jews will not replace us” – as “very fine people,” and he has dined with white nationalists at his Florida estate.
Trump has a “long history” of antisemitic behaviour, the Biden campaign said in a blistering statement in response to the video.
“Donald Trump is not playing games. He is telling America exactly what he intends to do if he regains power: rule as a dictator over a ‘unified reich’,’ Biden-Harris spokesperson James Singer said in the statement.
“Parroting (Hitler’s book) Mein Kampf while you warn of a bloodbath if you lose is the type of unhinged behaviour you get from a guy who knows that democracy continues to reject his extreme vision of chaos, division and violence.”
Additional reporting by Associated Press
