CNN
—
Former President Donald Trump posted a video Friday showing an image of President Joe Biden strapped to the back of a pickup truck.
President Trump suggested the post was taken Thursday on Long Island while attending a vigil for New York City police officer Jonathan Diller, who was killed during a traffic stop this week. The video shows two trucks with flags and decals expressing support for Trump. Biden's portrait was in the bed of a second truck.
Trump campaign spokesman Stephen Chan said in a statement: “That photo was in the bed of a pickup truck driving down the highway. Democrats and crazed lunatics have committed a vile act of violence against President Trump and his family. He's not just calling it out, he's actually using the justice system as a weapon against him.”
“We post this image of Donald Trump when we're calling for a 'bloodbath' and when we're telling the Proud Boys to stand back and stand by,” Biden campaign spokesman Michael Tyler told CNN. It's such nonsense.'' Trump regularly incites political violence, and it's time for the public to take him seriously — according to the Capitol Police officer who was attacked on January 6th while defending our democracy. I want you to see it. ”
Asked for comment on the video, the U.S. Secret Intelligence Service said it “does not review or comment on defense intelligence matters.”
The video marks yet another example of President Trump's use of dark and violent imagery in his campaign messages, as his penchant for inflammatory rhetoric appears to be helping his bid for the White House.
President Trump warned earlier this month that a loss in the 2024 election would be a “disaster” for the U.S. auto industry and the country.
The remarks came as President Trump promised “100% tariffs” on cars made outside the United States and insisted that domestic auto manufacturing would only be protected if he was elected. The comments also come amid uproar over Mexico's auto industry, labor unions, the transition to electric vehicles and car factories.
The former president said in December that immigrants were “tainting the blood” of America, citing Russian President Vladimir Putin's attack on Biden as a “threat to democracy.”
His comments are consistent with a pattern of expressing favoritism toward foreign leaders who use anti-democratic means to maintain power.
In another example, President Trump used the word “vermin” to describe his political opponent at a campaign event in New Hampshire in November, and Biden compared his own words to “a word he heard in Nazi Germany.” It attracted widespread criticism, including from Mr.
“We will eradicate the communists, Marxists, fascists, and radical left thugs that live like vermin within our borders,” Trump told the audience, adding, “The real threat comes from the radical right. It's not,” he warned. The real threat comes from the radical left, and that threat is growing every day. ”