Donald Trump’s campaign posts video referencing ‘unified Reich’
Donald Trump’s campaign blamed a staffer after the former president’s social media account posted a video with references to a ‘unified Reich’.
Donald Trump’s campaign pointed blame at a staffer after the former president’s social media account posted a video with references to a “unified Reich” and the German empire among hypothetical news headlines if he wins the 2024 election.
The headline appeared among a string of messages hailing a Trump victory in November, including “Trump wins!” and “Economy booms!”.
President Joe Biden’s campaign pounced on the video, accusing the former president of “echoing Nazi Germany” and “parroting Mein Kampf”.
The video has since been removed. Mr Trump’s campaign said it was posted to the Truth Social account by a staffer who did not notice the references to the German empire.
“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,” campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
Although the headlines in the video appear to refer to World War I and the unification of Germany under Otto von Bismarck in 1871, the word “Reich” is most commonly associated today with Nazi Germany.
Mr Trump has been accused of echoing the rhetoric of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis during his 2024 campaign. The former president has said that migrants entering the US illegally were “poisoning the blood of our country” and referred to his political enemies as “vermin”.
During his presidency, Mr Trump played down a neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where white supremacists chanted “Jews will not replace us”. The march descended into violent clashes with counter-protesters that left one woman dead. Mr Trump provoked widespread outrage when he suggested that there were “very fine people on both sides”.
White nationalist groups played a role in the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, as Trump supporters stormed congress in a bid to halt certification of Mr Biden’s election victory. Mr Trump still faces federal charges over his alleged role in fomenting the violence in a last-ditch bid to cling onto power. He has pleaded not guilty.
After leaving office, the former president faced another backlash when he hosted Nick Fuentes, a prominent white supremacist, along with the rapper Kanye West, who has a history of anti-Semitic remarks, at his Mar-a-Lago home in 2022.
In recent weeks, however, Mr Trump has sought to cast Mr Biden as weak on anti-Semitism as protests against the war in Gaza cause turmoil on American college campuses. At a campaign event last month, the former president said that Jews who voted for Mr Biden “should have their head examined”.
Mr Biden’s campaign hit back at the video on Truth Social with an exhaustive list of Mr Trump’s alleged history of anti-Semitic and racist remarks.
“Donald Trump is not playing games,” said James Singer, a spokesman for the Biden campaign. “He is telling America exactly what he intends to do if he regains power: rule as a dictator over a ‘unified Reich’.”
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