(USNewsMag.com) – Former President Donald Trump’s campaign had to delete a video shared on his social media page for the sake of optics after realizing that it included the phrase “unified Reich,” which immediately stirred up a fresh wave of Hitler comparisons amongst the former president’s Democratic critics and even some fellow Republicans.
On Monday, May 20th, the former president posted a 30-second clip onto his Truth Social page that was quickly deleted. Truth Social is Trump’s own social media platform, which he founded after he was banned from Twitter in 2021. The clip described a hypothetical vision of the country if Trump wins the presidential election in November, including graphics of a fake newspaper with headlines announcing Trump’s victory and asking “What’s next for America?”
The video seemed innocuous on the surface until some viewers noticed more details on the newspaper graphic, including text referencing “the creation of a unified Reich” appearing in the background several times, and text mentioning “German industrial strength.” “Reich” is a German term meaning “empire” and has historical associations with the Nazi period, i.e. Hitler’s Third Reich. Trump’s campaign quickly deleted the video, but not before his critics, who have long compared the former president to the disgraced German dictator, pounced on these details and began posting about it on social media.
A Trump campaign spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, claimed that an unwitting staffer reposted the video from another account on Monday, May 20th, while the former president was in court, and that it remained on Trump’s Truth Social page overnight until it was noticed the following morning and removed. Leavitt noted that the video wasn’t a campaign video, but “created by a random account online.” She said the staffer did not notice the text in the background. Leavitt ended the response by reiterating that President Joe Biden was “the real extremist.”
Biden mentioned the incident while speaking in Boston on Tuesday, May 21st, saying the text in the video was “not the language of an American president” but of “Hitler’s Germany.” He also called Trump’s explanation a “lame excuse.”
Trump also received criticism from GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill, some of whom are allies. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said the staffer “should be dealt with,” and Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota called the language in the video “inappropriate.”
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