Trump’s ‘United Reich’ video allegedly attributed to Turkish designer’s model | Donald Trump

A video posted on social media by Donald Trump referencing a “unified Reich” has been attributed to a model made by a Turkish designer more than a year ago, according to a CNN report.

Critics, including Joe Biden, condemned Trump for a video posted Monday to his Truth Social account featuring a hypothetical headline from his second presidential term saying “industrial strength has increased dramatically… thanks to the creation of a unified Reich.”

The German word “Reich” is strongly associated with Nazism, as Adolf Hitler referred to his regime as the “Third Reich.” The video has alarmed Trump’s critics, who note that the former president frequently echoes Nazi rhetoric — particularly in his language around immigration.

According to a new report from CNN, the video was made using a model by graphic designer Enes Şimşek, who lives near Istanbul. The model was available on stock footage and video effects resource Video Hive and was created at least a year ago, the network reported, confirming that it was not created by the Trump campaign for this specific use.

The Trump campaign said the post was not an official campaign video and was reposted by a staffer who did not notice the word.

The campaign did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.

The video’s language was reportedly copied verbatim from a Wikipedia article on World War I, which said: “German industrial strength and production increased significantly after 1871, driven by the creation of a unified Reich “.

Şimşek confirmed to CNN that he inserted the Wikipedia information filler text so customers could replace it with their own wording, something the video shared by Trump did not do. He said he sold 16 copies of the model for $21 each.

“When I was doing this job, I never thought that such an event would ever happen,” Şimşek said in a blog post explaining the incident. “(Two) days ago, this model was used as Trump’s campaign video. But I guess they forgot to change some of the text when they edited the draft. And things got very crazy.

After Trump released the video, the Biden campaign cited other previous comments and actions by Trump sympathizing with Nazism, including his claims that Hitler “did good things” and praising neo-Nazi protesters at the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville.

“Donald Trump doesn’t play games; “he is telling America exactly what he intends to do if he returns to power: rule as a dictator over a ‘unified Reich,'” Biden spokesperson James Singer said in a statement. .

“Repeating Mein Kampf while warning of bloodshed if you lose is the type of unhinged behavior you get from a guy who knows democracy continues to reject his extreme vision of chaos, division and violence. »

The video tools site asked Şimşek to remove the language from his template, which he has now done. “By the way, thanks to Trump for choosing my role model,” he said.