A video posted to former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social page on Monday has garnered criticism as it included a note about establishing a “unified Reich,” which some are calling a reference to Nazi Germany.
The video from Trump’s social media showed snippets of hypothetical headlines if he were to win the 2024 election.
Among the headlines to appear on screen include “Trump wins!!” and “Economy booms,” while other headlines appear to reference the World Wars.
However, also among the headlines, in smaller print, are the words “the creation of a unified Reich.”
Reich is a German word that is similar to the English word realm. Reich is used to describe different time periods in Germany’s history. The German empire at the height of World War II was infamously known as the “Third Reich,” while the “First Reich” goes back to the Roman Empire.
The video very quickly drew criticism online, including from President Biden’s campaign, which said in a post on X the Trump video was “echoing Nazi Germany.
The video appears to come from the video template “Newspaper Vintage History Headlines Promo,” which The Hill reported was easily accessible online. In the template, the main headlines referenced the history of Germany and the World Wars, and the same verbiage about a “unified Reich” can be seen.
“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,” Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told The Associated Press in a statement.
The video has since been taken down from Trump’s Truth Social page.