Biden campaign seizes on Trump Truth Social repost referencing "unified Reich"
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
A frame from a video reposted on former President Trump's Truth Social account Monday displaying a mock newspaper headline on a smartphone in front of a photo of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Photo: Chris Delmas/AFP via Getty Images
A video reposted to former President Trump's Truth Social account on Monday discussing what would happen if he won the 2024 election referred to "a unified Reich."
Why it matters: Although Trump's campaign emphasized that this wasn't a campaign video and a staffer inadvertently reposted it without seeing the words, President Biden's campaign seized on it in a post to X, saying: "Trump posts a new ad foreshadowing a second Trump term that says he will create a 'UNIFIED REICH,' echoing Nazi Germany."
Context: The word "Reich" typically refers to German empires, though it's now largely associated with Adolf Hitler's Third Reich during Nazi Germany.
Driving the news: In the 30-second video that was posted on Trump's Truth Social account during his New York hush money trial's lunch break, a narrator discusses "what's next for America" if Trump wins as mock headlines and other text are displayed on the screen, including "the creation of a unified Reich."
- AP first reported that the text in one of the headlines seemed to be taken verbatim from a Wikipedia entry on World War I that states "German industrial strength and production had significantly increased after 1871, driven by the creation of a unified Reich."
- Other headlines in the video that was still posted on Trump's Truth Social account early Tuesday included "IT'S A LANDSLIDE! TRUMP WINS!!" At times the headlines echo the narrator's comments, including when the voice says "the economy booms."
- Repeating the narrator's comments "the border is closed," text is displayed below the headline stating "15 MILLION ILLEGAL ALIENS DEPORTED" — in an apparent reference to Trump's plan for the mass deportation of undocumented migrants if he's elected.
What they're saying: "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, a campaign spokesperson, said in a statement to media. "The real extremist is Joe Biden."
The other side: Biden 2024 campaign spokesperson James Singer said in an email Sunday night: "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.'"
- Singer added, "Parroting 'Mein Kampf' while you warn of a bloodbath if you lose is the type of unhinged behavior you get from a guy who knows that democracy continues to reject his extreme vision of chaos, division, and violence."
- Representatives for Biden's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Leavitt's point that the Trump staffer who reposted the video didn't see the word "Reich."
The big picture: The Biden campaign has been zeroing in on Trump's incendiary rhetoric as it seeks to present him as a fundamental threat to democracy if the presumptive Republican nominee wins the presidential election in November, Axios' Erin Doherty notes.
- This includes denouncing Trump for parroting Hitler in Trump's claims that undocumented immigrants are "poisoning the blood of our country" and condemning him for describing opponents as "vermin."
- Last month, the White House and Jewish groups slammed Trump over reports that the Republican compared Biden's administration to the Gestapo, the Nazi-era secret police force in Germany.
Editor's note: This article has been updated with further details to reflect that the video was still posted to the former president's Truth Social account early Tuesday, and with further context.
