Donald Trump posted a campaign video using the term Reich, which evokes the Third Reich of Nazi Germany, within the U.S. He then deleted it on the 21st (local time).
The former president posted a 30-second video on his social media platform, Truth Social. The video, titled “What is America’s next goal?” under a fictitious title, mentioned the birth of a unified Reich three times alongside a scrap of a newspaper from World War I, predicting his victory in the U.S. presidential election on November 5th.
The video features several articles in the style of early 20th-century newspapers, including text quoted from World War I-related reports on Germany’s industrial power and peace through power. According to the New York Times (NYT), the video’s text listed the start and end of World War I and claimed that if Trump were elected, he would deport 15 million immigrants during his tenure.
The NYT also pointed out that another title of the video stated that Trump would reject globalists during his tenure, a term widely used by far-right individuals and scholars say could be used as a signal of anti-Semitism.
The most controversial issue was the use of the German word Reich, meaning empire. In this regard, the German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel pointed out that many people in the U.S. clearly understand the word Reich as referring to the Third Reich of the Nazis, especially since it was written in German in Trump’s English video.
The German news channel ntv noted that while the word Reich is often used in the U.S. about Nazi Germany, which called itself the Third Reich, the video, which includes some clichés copied from other texts and mentions World War I, could be about the German Empire that existed from 1871 to 1918.
Indeed, the video states, “Germany’s industrial power greatly increased following the birth of the unified empire after 1871.”
In response, Biden campaign spokesman James Singer criticized, “Trump is clearly stating his intention to rule like a dictator over the unified Reich if he regains power.”
White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre also said during a briefing on the presidential plane en route to New Hampshire, “It’s disgusting, revolting, and shameful for anyone to promote content associated with Hitler’s Nazi Germany.”
In response, Trump camp spokesperson Karoline Leavitt explained in a statement, “This is not a video made by the campaign. An employee posted the video made by an arbitrary online account while Trump was in court, and the employee did not see the word Reich.”
The video was posted just before former president Trump returned to Manhattan court after lunch in New York the previous day and was deleted the following day.
Trump has previously referred to immigrants as pests and said they pollute the blood of America while discussing his hardline policy on illegal immigration.
In November 2022, he also invited Nick Fuentes, a notorious white supremacist and blatant anti-Semite, and rapper Ye (formerly Kanye West) for dinner at his home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
Therefore, even if this video was not posted directly by Trump and was not produced by his campaign, it could be evaluated as reflecting his intentions well.
Trump, whose grandfather immigrated from Germany to New York in 1885, is of German descent. However, he rarely made public comments about his grandfather or father, unlike his mother, who immigrated from Scotland to the U.S. in 1930. He also had an uncomfortable relationship with Angela Merkel, the German chancellor during his presidency.
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