Stephen Colbert has taunted the Trump campaign after the posting of a video that included a reference to the “creation of a unified Reich” if Mr Trump returns to the White House in November.
“Trump posted a video touting how great a second Trump term would be ending with ‘MAGA!!’,” Late Show host Colbert explained. “But in grayscale underneath is the headline: ‘Industrial strength significantly increased driven by the creation of a unified Reich’.”
“Unified yike,” the host reacted. “That’s not a dog whistle that’s a whistle made of dog.”
Posted on Monday evening, the 30-second clip showed several hypothetical news headlines in the event that Mr Trump wins the presidential election in November, beating Democrat President Joe Bide.
“It’s a landslide!” faux newspaper clippings display in the video “Trump wins!!”.
The next headline states, “What’s next for America?,” along with a photograph of the former president staunchly holding up a fist to a backdrop of the American flag.
But looking closer at the pretend article in the back, the wording states the problematic sentence including the “unified Reich.”
“Reich” derives from the Germanic word “realm”, referring to an empire. It also carries the connotation of Germany’s former dictator Adolph Hitler’s Third Reich, another name for his Nazi regime.
Pointing out that the same headline appears underneath the acronym “MAGA!!,” Mr Trump’s long-standing slogan ‘Make America Great Again,’ Colbert jokingly suggests it now stands for something different.
“Evidently, MAGA now stands for Make America Germany Around 1938,” he quipped.
A spokesperson for Mr Trump said of the post: “This was not a campaign video, it was created by a random account online and reposted by a staffer who clearly did not see the word, while the president was in court.”
Colbert then moved on to sharing the news that Mr Trump’s Truth Social social media platform, where the now-deleted video was uploaded, has lost just under $328m within the last quarter, according to its earnings report.
“How could they be losing money?” Colbert joked “Doesn’t every business want to associate their product with the unified Reich?”
Meanwhile, the host also turned his attention to the wrapping up of testimonies at Mr Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan over alleged hush money payments before the 2016 election. Trump denies all the charges against him.
“After calling just two witnesses this afternoon, Trump’s defence rested. Of course, Trump himself is fully rested,” Colbert joked, making reference to Mr Trump’s apparent doze-off in court in the early days of the trial.
The Independent has contacted a representative for Mr Trump for comment.
