Former President Donald Trump, the 2024 Republican nominee, has been criticized for sharing a video on his social media platform, Truth Social, of a truck bearing an image of President Joe Biden tied up.
The video depicted two vehicles adorned with American flags, a Blue Lives Matter flag, and other images. “Trump 2024” is visible on the side of the black pickup truck. The post’s caption suggested the trucks were observed in Long Island, New York, on Thursday, where Trump attended the wake of an NYPD officer who was fatally shot.
However, the most disturbing element for critics was the image of President Biden tied up on the rear of the vehicle, giving the impression that he was being held in the back of the truck.
“This image from Donald Trump is the type of material you post when you’re inciting violence or telling the Proud Boys to ‘stand back and stand by,'” said Michael Tyler, the Biden campaign’s Communications Director, in a statement, as reported by CNN. “Trump consistently provokes political violence, and it’s time for people to take him seriously—just ask the Capitol Police officers who were assaulted while defending our democracy on January 6.”
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told NBC News that the “image was on the back of a pickup truck that was moving down the highway,” and stated that “Democrats and deranged radicals” had advocated violence against Trump. He further alleged that they were “weaponizing the legal system against him.”
TIME has requested comment from the Trump and Biden campaigns.
Trump has been repeatedly accused of encouraging violence through his rhetoric since his initial presidential bid. Federal officials have previously warned him to abstain from language that could “incite violence or civil unrest.”
