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Donald Trump, who is not one to eschew violent rhetoric, shared a video on Friday that showed a pickup truck with an image of President Joe Biden hogtied on his side.
Posted on the former president’s Truth Social account, the 20-second video shows pickup trucks on a highway, decked out in various pro-Trump decals. On the back of one of the trucks is an image of Biden tied up with his hands behind his back. Trump suggested in the post that the video was taken in Long Island, New York, where the day before he had attended the wake of a police officer who was killed during a traffic stop.
In a statement, Biden campaign spokesperson Michael Tyler said the video was yet another instance of Trump attempting to incite violence:
This image from Donald Trump is the type of crap you post when you’re calling for a bloodbath or when you tell the Proud Boys to ‘stand back and stand by.’ 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.
A Trump campaign spokesperson, Steven Cheung, dismissed the criticism, painting the former president as the real victim.
“That picture was on the back of a pick up truck that was traveling down the highway,” Cheung said. “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.”
Setting aside the question of why someone would spend money decorating their vehicle with an image of a politician they oppose, Trump’s willingness to share that video reflects his ongoing vicious personal attacks against his political rivals. And as the election draws closer — along with his criminal trials — that violent rhetoric he so easily wields has only gotten worse.