Donald Trump faced criticism after posting a video which showed an image of President Joe Biden hog-tied on the tailgate of a moving pick-up truck. This had led to accusations that the former US president is “inciting political violence” in the run-up to elections in November along with his inflammatory speeches and comments.
The video was posted on his social media site, Truth Social. The video was shot in Long Island, New York, on Thursday. Trump was there when the video was shot and he attended the wake of a New York City cop who was shot dead during a traffic stop.
The video shows a moving truck adorned with “Trump 2024” and “back the blue” – a slogan given to show support for police – stickers with a photo of Joe Biden with his hands and feet bound painted on the rear of the vehicle.
“Trump is regularly inciting political violence and it’s time people take him seriously – just ask the Capitol police officers who were attacked protecting our democracy on 6 January,” Michael Tyler, the Biden campaign’s communications director was quoted as saying by Sky News.
However, Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign spokesman said the picture was of a truck travelling down the highway. “That picture was on the back of a pick-up truck that was travelling down the highway. Democrats and crazed lunatics have not only called for despicable violence against President Trump and his family, they are actually weaponizing the justice system against him,” Cheung was quoted as saying by the UK-based broadcaster.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has made a series of inflammatory and racist statements on the US campaign trail since declaring his candidacy in November 2022.
In some cases, he has used violent imagery to lambaste immigrants and opponents. He has warned that the United States is on the verge of collapse, and his rhetoric has raised concerns that he might flout democratic norms by using the power of the state to target perceived enemies if he is elected.
Trump has said on several occasions that immigrants in the United States illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country.”
Trump pledged at a November rally in New Hampshire that he would “root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country”.
Those comments drew rebukes from congressional Democrats and some moderate Republicans. Some historians have traced the use of the word “vermin” to Hitler and Italy’s Benito Mussolini.
(with inputs from Reuters)
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