Trump ad controversy over ‘unified Reich’ phrase links to Turkish designer

A phrase in a Trump campaign video, “unified Reich,” has caused significant controversy. It appears to have originated from placeholder text in a video template created in 2023 by Enes Simsek, a 30-year-old Turkish freelance graphic designer.

The video, which was posted and then removed by the Trump campaign, included imagined headlines for a possible Trump re-election. Among them was “What’s next for America,” featuring the phrase “creation of a unified Reich,” which many associate with Nazi Germany.

President Joe Biden condemned the reference. The Trump campaign claimed a staffer reposted the video without noticing the text.

In an interview with CNN, Simsek said the Trump ad used video graphics he designed in May last year. He explained that he had searched for World War I text on Google and used it as placeholder text: “German industrial strength and production had significantly increased after 1871, driven by the creation of a unified Reich.”

The phrase seems to have been taken from a Wikipedia entry on World War I, created on November 15, 2022, and later removed. The intention was to use it as dummy text for customers to replace. Simsek believes the Trump video retained this text from his original template. He has sold 16 copies of the template for $21 each.

The template appeared in at least two other online videos with no political context: a French video on Facebook and a YouTube music video.

CNN found the video template on Video Hive. After being contacted through the template’s page, Simsek confirmed he was the creator.

“I didn’t know I had the power to change politics…imagine if your work shakes a country,” Simsek said in a video call.

A web cache confirms the template dates back at least a year, long before the Trump ad was shared online.