In the video, two trucks decorated with giant Trump flags and modified American flags are seen driving down the highway. One of the trucks had a picture of Biden on the tailgate, lying horizontally, bound and gagged.
Similar photos of Biden had been circulating on social media for months and even years before social media sites like Instagram, Reddit and Twitter changed their name to X. In February, the popular World Star Hip Hop website posted a video of a truck allegedly in California with such an image on it.
A spokesman for the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Friday. A spokesman for the Biden campaign also did not immediately respond to an email.
Trump has a history of sharing and promoting violent images featuring his perceived enemies.
In October, Trump shared an altered video of him hitting Biden with a ball, knocking him out. (This is similar to a doctored video he shared in 2017 of hitting a golf ball into Hillary Clinton’s back, causing her to fall.) In April 2023, a judge in Trump Trump issued a warning after he was photographed holding a golf club. A photo of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) with a bat next to him was shared from a verified account of the former president.
In July 2017, Trump shared a video of himself punching a man at a professional wrestling match whose face was covered with the CNN logo. A verified account from CNN’s (CNN) communications team responded to the video by quoting Trump’s then-White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, falsely claiming that Trump “from It does not promote or encourage violence in any form or manner”.
Earlier this month, Trump told supporters in Ohio that some immigrants charged with crimes were “not human beings” and warned it would be a “holocaust for the country” if he was not elected.
The latest incidents come amid Trump’s increasing use of violence and hostile rhetoric as he seeks to return to the White House. In December, he told people in New Hampshire that immigrants were “poisoning the blood of our country” — a statement that immigrant groups and civil rights advocates condemned, saying it was reminiscent of Hitler’s words in his ” The book “Mein Kampf” tells the Germans to “care about the purity of their blood by exterminating the Jews.”
Trump held his first rally of the campaign season in March 2023 in Waco, Texas, a city famous decades ago for deadly showdowns between FBI officers and cult members. The showdown fueled the anti-government militia movement. At the rally, Trump played a song sung by people incarcerated for crimes related to the January 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol, whom he has since repeatedly referred to as “patriots” and “hostages.” ”.
Isaac Arnsdorf contributed to this report.
