Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump drew criticism Friday for posting a video on social media that contains the image of a hog-tied President Joe Biden painted on the tailgate of a passing truck.
The Biden campaign was quick to condemn the video for suggesting physical harm to the sitting Democratic president. Biden has portrayed his likely 2024 opponent as someone who freely evokes Nazi imagery with regard to immigrants, while also stressing in speeches that Trump's efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 elections ultimately led to an assault on the U.S. Capitol.
"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 January 6," said Michael Tyler, the Biden campaign's communications director.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung responded Friday night: "That picture was on the back of a pickup truck that was traveling 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."
The U.S. Secret Service released a statement saying it "does not confirm or comment on matters of protective intelligence."
The former president posted the video on his social media site, Truth Social. His caption said the video was taken in Long Island, New York on Thursday, when the former president attended the wake of a New York City police officer who was killed during a traffic stop.
The posted video shows a passing truck decked out with "Trump 2024" and flags claiming support for police, with the picture of a seemingly helpless Biden with his hands and feet tied painted on the rear of the vehicle.
Shares in Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. began trading on the stock market Tuesday, with the valuation adding billions of dollars to his fortune.
Seeking a return to the White House, Trump has painted an apocalyptic picture of the country if Biden secures a second term.
"If I don't get elected, it's going to be a bloodbath for the whole — that's going to be the least of it. It's going to be a bloodbath for the country," he warned at an Ohio rally earlier this month while talking about the impact of offshoring on the country's auto industry.
Trump has talked about immigrants "poisoning the blood of our country," echoing the rhetoric of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. And he once described his enemies as "vermin," language that his opponents say reflect his authoritarian beliefs.
At one recent rally, Trump went so far as to cast Biden's handling of the border as "a conspiracy to overthrow the United States of America."
Last year, before his indictment in New York over hush money paid on his behalf during his 2016 campaign, Trump posted a photo on social media of himself holding a baseball bat next to a picture of District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
In a 2018 speech, Biden discussed lewd comments that Trump had made about women and registered his disgust by suggesting a willingness to physically fight the then-president.
"If we were in high school, I'd take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him," Biden said at the time, adding that any man who disrespected women was "usually the fattest, ugliest SOB in the room."