Donald Trump drew criticism Saturday for a video on his Truth Social platform that featured an image of President Joe Biden "hog-tied," as if he were being kidnapped.
The video, posted Friday afternoon, shows two pickup trucks driving down a highway, each displaying multiple pro-Trump signs and flags. On the tailgate of the second truck is an image of a prone Biden tied with his hands behind him.
Biden's reelection campaign said the post by Republican candidate Trump -- whose language has become increasingly caustic as he campaigns against Biden for the presidency -- could lead to 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,' Biden spokesman Michael Tyler told AFP, referring to the far-right militia involved in the January 6, 2021 assault on the US Capitol by Trump supporters.
He went on: "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."
The Trump campaign was unapologetic.
"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," spokesman Steven Cheung said.
The US Secret Service, charged with protecting present and former presidents, did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.
Trump has a long history of using dark and combative language and posting provocative images.
He warned earlier this month of a "bloodbath" for the US auto industry -- and, as some heard it, the nation as well -- if Biden wins in November.
Trump in December accused migrants of "poisoning the blood" of Americans.
In November, he lashed into his political rivals, vowing to "root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country."
That drew a response from Biden, who said Trump was using "language you heard in Nazi Germany."
Turning the tables on Trump's attacks, the 81-year-old Biden has recently mocked the Republican -- four years his junior -- as "old," "out of shape" and in cognitive decline.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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