22 May 2024 , 16:14
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Joe Biden slammed Donald Trump this week for using an expression associated with Nazi Germany in a campaign ad. The former president quickly scrubbed the video from his Truth Social account after
Biden posted his reaction to the ad on his X account, showing a face of utter disgust the deep-voiced narrator asked "what's next for America?" A text then appears reading "creation of a unified reich," a term used by Adolf Hitler. The German word reich translates to empire in English. Starstruck, Biden turns to someone offscreen and asks "This is on his official account? Wow. Unified reich? That's Hitler's language. That's not America."
Republicans have come under fire in recent years for using rhetoric comparable to Nazi Germany and other fascist regimes. Anti-immigration rhetoric related to the "great replacement" and claims of "Soros funding" - referencing the liberal Jewish billionaire George Soros - has been widely criticized for its relation to dangerous conspiracies.
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In the video, Biden shows disgust at the rhetoric his opponent is pushing amid a heated Presidential campaign (Joe Biden/Twitter)In the video President Biden accuses the former president of caring only for the power of the Oval Office and not the oath to American people.
"I care about you," the incumbent said. The video first appeared on Trump's account but was quickly deleted the very next day. A spokesperson denied the 30-second clip as an official campaign video, claiming it was posted by a junior staff member and not the former president.
The video begins with boldened text predicting a "Trump Landslide" as the monotone voiceover says "What happens if Donald Trump wins?" It subsequently scrolls past a headline: "Industrial strength and production had significantly increased driven by the creation of a unified Reich."
Germany united as a Reich a bit over a half a century before the Nazi Party assumed power and declared the Third Reich under Adolf Hitler.
The video then appears to preview American policies under another Trump administration, showing headlines that read "Border Is Closed" and "15 Million Illegal Aliens Deported." Karoline Leavitt, the spokesperson, maintained that the video "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."
Trump posted racist rhetoric to social media twice during his presidency, and some fear his election could amp up tensions around the country (Joe Biden/Twitter)Trump has a history of posting racially-charged content to his social media and quickly backtracking when confronted. This happened twice within a month in 2020. In May of that year, Trump tweeted "when the looting starts, the shooting starts," referring to the sprawling Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the death of George Floyd.
The phrase, dating back to the civil rights era, was used by a white police chief who prided himself in squashing anti-segregation demonstrations.
Then a month later in June, he retweeted a video of a die-hard supporter shouting "White power" as he rode on a golf cart during a rally.
During both incidents, he claimed ignorance, saying he was unaware of the racial implications of the looting reference and that he didn't hear what the Trump supporter was actually spouting in the video.