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Who could Not-See this coming

Trump posted a video online that features images of hypothetical newspaper articles celebrating a 2024 victory for him and referring to “the creation of a unified Reich” under the headline “What’s next for America?”

The 30-second video, which Mr. Trump posted on his social media site, Truth Social, features several articles styled like newspapers from the early 1900s — and apparently recycling text from reports on World War I, including references to “German industrial strength” and “peace through strength.” One article in the video asserts that Mr. Trump would deport 15 million migrants in a second term, while text onscreen lists the start and end days of World War I.

Another headline in the video suggests that Mr. Trump in a second term would reject “globalists,” using a term that has been widely adopted on the far right and that scholars say can be used as a signal of antisemitism.

The term “Reich” is often associated with Germany’s Nazi government under Adolf Hitler, who established a “Third Reich” that succeeded its first two counterparts, the medieval Holy Roman Empire and the German Empire of 1871-1918, which lost World War I to the Allied powers.

The sentence referring to “the creation of a unified Reich” is used three times in the video. It reads, in full, “German industrial strength significantly increased after 1871, driven by the creation of a unified Reich.” In the beginning of the video, as an announcer asks, “What’s next for America,” the text is partly visible, including the words “the creation of a unified Reich.”

Mr. Trump has repeatedly denounced Jews who vote for Democrats, accusing them of hating their religion and Israel. In one video this month, he said that “if Jewish people are going to vote for Joe Biden, they have to have their head examined.”

President Biden’s campaign accused Mr. Trump of echoing Nazi Germany by posting the ad, saying in a statement on social media that the video was “foreshadowing a second Trump term.”

"While seeking to portray President Joe Biden as soft on antisemitism, [Trump] has himself repeatedly faced criticism for using language and rhetoric associated with Nazi Germany," the Associated Press reports.

Political podcaster Jon Favreau shared Biden's tweet with his own take on the apparent blunder.

"I'm sure it was just an oversight - all kinds of phrases autocorrect to "UNIFIED REICH," he wrote.

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