Trump deletes social media video about election victory referencing 'Unified Reich' after backlash
"This was not a campaign video," a Trump campaign rep said.
Former President Donald Trump on Monday deleted a social media video that referenced the phrase "Unified Reich" after his critics said the phrase mirrors that of Nazi Germany.
The phrase "Unified Reich" appears as a part of hypothetical news articles in the video that announce Trump's hypothetical victory in the 2024 election, with the narrator asking, "What happens after Donald Trump wins?"
Under a big headline that says, "WHAT'S NEXT FOR AMERICA?" there is a smaller headline that appears to read: "INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED DRIVEN BY THE CREATION OF A UNIFIED REICH."
The video then predicts an economic boom, tax cuts, border security and deportation of undocumented immigrants if Trump wins the 2024 election.
A spokesperson for the Biden-Harris 2024 campaign on Monday night slammed the video saying it was "parroting 'Mein Kampf.'"
"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 campaign spokesperson James Singer wrote in a statement.
"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," Singer continued.
In a statement to ABC News, the Trump campaign claimed it is not a campaign video but rather a random online video reposted by a staffer who did not see the word.
"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 video was posted at 1:58 p.m. ET when the trial in Trump's hush money trial was at lunch. The video was taken down Tuesday morning, after existing on Trump's social media page for more than 18 hours.
The video appears to have been made using an existing video template that mimics an old newspaper, several parts of the template referencing historic dates and events.
In the template, one mock news article appears to say, "INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED IN 1871, DRIVEN BY THE CREATION OF A UNIFIED REICH," the reference to the year 1871 not visible in the video Trump shared because it was blurred and cut.
Over the past year, Trump has repeatedly faced similar criticisms of echoing words of Nazi Germany or fascist figures, including during a rally in November last year when he compared his political opponents to "vermin" that he will "root out."
Trump has also repeatedly said undocumented immigrants are "poisoning the blood of our country" - drawing scrutiny from critics who say that language is used by white supremacists and Hitler, who infamously wrote about "blood poisoning" in his book "Mein Kampf."
Trump later claimed he's never read "Mein Kampf," saying he's using such language "in a much different way" when he disparages undocumented immigrants.
Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung last year too rejected the comparisons to Hitler and Mussolini," calling it a "ridiculous assertion."
"Those who try to make that ridiculous assertion are clearly snowflakes grasping for anything because they are suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome and their sad, miserable existence will be crushed when President Trump returns to the White House," Cheung said.
