Trump's latest flirtation with Nazi symbolism draws criticism

Former President Trump has once again stoked outrage for his flirtation with Nazi rhetoric, this time in a video posted to his Truth Social account that used the phrase “unified Reich.”

The video drew swift condemnation, including from the Biden campaign, which spent the day on the attack and noted it was just the latest instance of Trump using or promoting language often associated with Nazi Germany or World War II dictators.

Trump is leading President Biden in the polls in several key battleground states that will determine the outcome of November's election, but self-created controversies sparked by his rhetoric could be cause for concern for his campaign.

“Every time Trump goes there it’s a giant gift to the Biden campaign,” said Alex Conant, a veteran of multiple Republican campaigns. “They want this election to be about Trump. They want to portray Trump as far outside the mainstream, and when Trump gives them fodder they’re going to take advantage.” 

Trump’s account on Truth Social shared a 30-second video Monday afternoon that featured various hypothetical newspaper front pages that would follow his victory in November’s election. One read “Economy Booms,” while another touted millions of deportations. Twice, text is visible that references a “unified Reich,” language that drew comparisons to Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich in Nazi Germany.

The video had been deleted by Tuesday morning, but the Biden campaign and top White House officials seized on the comments throughout the day, arguing it clarified the stakes of November’s election.

“This kind of rhetoric is unsurprising coming from the former president. It’s appalling and we've got to tell him who we are. And once again it shows that our freedom and our very democracy are at stake,” Vice President Harris said during a rally with union workers in Philadelphia.

White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates called it “abhorrent, sickening, and disgraceful for anyone to promote content associated with Germany’s Nazi government under Adolf Hitler.”

The Biden campaign said the video was “part of a pattern of [Trump’s] praise for dictators and echoing antisemitic tropes.” 

“He’s a threat to our democracy and Americans must reject him and stand up for our democracy this November,” Biden campaign spokesperson James Singer said in a statement.

The Trump campaign sought to distance itself from the video.

“This was not a campaign video, it was created by a random account online and reposted by a junior staffer who clearly did not see the word, while the President was in court,” campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. 

Leavitt went on to attack President Biden as an “extremist … who has turned his back on Israel and the Jewish people," a reference to Biden's criticism of Israel for its actions in Gaza.

Tuesday’s controversy was far from the first time Trump has found himself in hot water over his rhetoric drawing comparisons to dictators and Nazi Germany.

Trump at a fundraiser earlier this month claimed Biden was running a “Gestapo administration,” referring to the secret Nazi police force as he complained about his legal troubles. He has in recent weeks suggested Jewish Americans who vote for Democrats should get their heads examined.

Trump has been rebuked for calling his political opponents “vermin” and for saying on multiple occasions that immigrants entering the U.S. illegally are “poisoning the blood” of the country. When pressed on the latter phrases' connections to Hitler and Nazi Germany, Trump said he never read "Mein Kampf," Hitler’s manifesto.

Dating back further, Trump was widely criticized in 2022 for dining with Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago. And he triggered outrage in 2017 when he said there was blame on “both sides” and that there were “very fine people on both sides” at a Charlottesville, Va., white supremacist rally that turned violent when attendees clashed with counterprotesters.

“Trump’s continued use of Nazi rhetoric is un-American and despicable. Yet too many Americans are brushing off the glaring red flags about what could happen if he returns to the White House,” Sarah Matthews, a former Trump spokesperson turned critic, posted on the social platform X. “When someone shows you who they are, believe them.”

Despite the myriad controversies, Trump cruised through the Republican primary to secure the GOP nomination for president. He is in a strong position in the polls as well, leading Biden in most battleground states that are expected to determine the outcome in November, though officials in both campaigns have said they expect a close election.

A Decision Desk HQ/The Hill average of polls shows Trump ahead by 6 percentage points in Arizona, 6 points in Georgia, 4 points in Michigan, 7 points in Nevada, 2 points in Pennsylvania and 1 point in Wisconsin.

Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former Trump White House official who has been an outspoken critic of his, said Tuesday on “The View” that Biden’s campaign was wise to highlight the latest controversial remarks at a time when they would otherwise be drowned out by coverage of Trump’s hush money trial.

“They need to have the narrative they had in 2020, which is restoring the soul of America, fighting for it,” Farah Griffin said on “The View” on ABC. “They need that sort of forward-looking, 'this is what we’re fighting against but this is who we should be.' It can’t just be whack-a-mole [of] each crazy thing Trump says.”