Donald Trump has faced fresh criticism after posting a video showing an image of President Joe Biden hog-tied on the tailgate of a passing pick-up truck.
The footage has fuelled accusations the Republican candidate is “inciting political violence” in the run-up to the presidential election, amid increasingly inflammatory rhetoric.
The former US president posted the video on his social media site, Truth Social.
According to the caption it was taken in Long Island, New York, on Thursday, when Mr Trump attended the wake of a New York City police officer who was gunned down during a traffic stop.
The posted video shows a passing truck decked out with “Trump 2024” and flags claiming support for police, with the picture of Mr Biden with his hands and feet bound painted on the rear of the vehicle.
Referring to Mr Trump’s efforts to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election that culminated in the storming of Congress, Michael Tyler, the Biden campaign’s communications director, said: “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 6 January.”
But hitting back, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said: “That picture was on the back of a pick-up truck that was travelling down the highway.
“Democrats and crazed lunatics have not only called for despicable violence against President Trump and his family, they are actually weaponising the justice system against him.”
In his bid to regain the White House, Mr Trump has ramped up the vitriol.
Speaking at an Ohio rally earlier this month while talking about the impact of foreign competition on the US motor industry, Mr Trump warned: “If I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the whole – that’s going to be the least of it.
“It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country.”
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Mr Trump has also talked about immigrants “poisoning the blood of our country” and has described his enemies as “vermin”.
At one recent rally, Mr Trump went so far as to brand Mr Biden’s handling of the contentious Mexico border issue as “a conspiracy to overthrow the United States of America”.
Last year, before his indictment in New York over hush money paid on his behalf during his 2016 campaign, Mr Trump posted a photo on social media of himself holding a baseball bat next to a picture of District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
In a 2018 speech, Mr Biden discussed lewd comments that Mr Trump had made about women and signalled his willingness to physically fight the then president.
He said at the time: “If we were in high school, I’d take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him.”
Earlier this week, shares in Trump Media & Technology Group Corp, the company behind Truth Social, soared on their stock market debut in New York, with the valuation adding billions of dollars to the tycoon’s fortune.