Former President Donald J. Trump posted a video on his social media site on Friday showing an image of President Biden with his hands and feet tied together.
Mr. Trump posted the video on Truth Social early Friday afternoon with the line that it was filmed on Long Island on Thursday as Mr. Trump attended the memorial service for a murdered New York City police officer in Massapequa Park, NY. The video shows two moving trucks decorated with flags and stickers in support of Mr. Trump. The picture of Mr. Biden can be seen on the tailgate of the second vehicle.
Macabre images targeting Mr. Trump’s perceived enemies often circulate online among right-wing provocateurs and pro-Trump groups and, in some cases, have been presented at conservative conferences. Photos of trucks bearing similar images of the handcuffed Mr. Biden have been shared on social media, and online retailers are selling vehicle stickers featuring the image.
Mr. Trump’s promotion of the video with the image reflects the increasingly vitriolic and personal attacks he has made against Mr. Biden – for example, he said in a speech this month that “everything Joe Biden touches is in Dirt turned,” even though he used it as a slur — and it expands on a record of the former president displaying violent images on his social media accounts.
“Trump regularly foments political violence, and it’s time for people to take him seriously — just ask the Capitol Police officers who were attacked protecting our democracy on January 6,” said Michael Tyler, a Biden spokesman campaign, referring to a pro-Trump mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Steven Cheung, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, said: “The picture was in the back of a pickup truck driving down the highway,” adding: “Democrats and deranged lunatics have not only committed despicable violence against President Trump and his… “Family called out, they are actually using the justice system as a weapon against him.”
The video could still be found on Mr. Trump’s Truth Social page late Friday evening.
The Trump campaign has repeatedly cited Democratic statements from past years to defend Mr. Trump’s rhetoric. Mr. Cheung on Friday referred to a 2018 statement by Mr. Biden in which he said, referring to Mr. Trump, “If we were in high school, I would take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him.” ” Mr. Biden was responding to comments Mr. Trump made about women on an audio tape related to the show “Access Hollywood.”
Mr. Trump has previously released doctored photos and videos showing him physically attacking political opponents, particularly focusing on Mr. Biden over the last year. The former president, for example, has repeatedly shared videos of himself hitting Mr. Biden with golf balls. Mr. Trump also posted a photo last year of himself holding a baseball bat next to Alvin L. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney who is prosecuting Mr. Trump in connection with a hush-money payment to a porn star during the 2016 campaign.
Mr. Trump has also used increasingly authoritarian language on the campaign trail, repeatedly saying that migrants are “poisoning the blood of our country” and calling his political opponents “vermin” who must be “exterminated” in a Veterans Day speech last year. “
This month, Mr Trump said that some migrants were “not people” and, amid a debate over the auto industry, that the country would face a “bloodbath” if he lost the election. A few days later, in a radio interview, he attacked Jewish Democrats, saying that Jews who vote for Democrats hate their religion and Israel.
On Saturday, Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social a new attack on the daughter of Judge Juan M. Merchan, who is presiding over his hush money trial in Manhattan.
The attack was related to a news article showing two pictures of the daughter, both of which appeared in Mr. Trump’s post.
The attack came shortly after an official for Mr. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, argued in a letter to the court that Judge Merchan’s daughter was covered by a limited gag order the judge issued earlier in the week. The letter asked the judge to make clear that the gag order protects family members of the judge from attacks by Mr. Trump. The judge is expected to say whether he agrees in the coming days.
Mr. Trump also released a handful of attacks on the judge’s daughter earlier this week. His lawyers said Trump could attack her because she worked for Democrats and insisted that his freedom of political expression would be restricted.
In a post earlier this week, Mr. Trump claimed that an account on X with a photo of him behind bars belonged to the judge’s daughter. Court officials said the account does not belong to her.
Maggie Haberman contributed reporting.
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2024-03-31 01:02:18
www.nytimes.com
