Olivier Douliery/Pool/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — Donald Trump’s critics were quick to condemn the president on Sunday after he tweeted an edited video that shows him physically attacking a person with the CNN logo superimposed in front of his face at a WWE match.
#FraudNewsCNN #FNN pic.twitter.com/WYUnHjjUjg
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 2, 2017
Ari Fleischer, who served as White House press secretary during the first term of fellow Republican George W. Bush, tweeted that he believes the president has gone too far in his ongoing rhetorical battle with the press.
“It’s part of our democracy to disagree. But this goes too far,” Fleischer wrote in a four-part comment on Twitter. “Some will think it’s funny. I find it in poor taste.”
1/ I never minded a good “fight” w the press. It’s part of our democracy to disagree. But this goes too far. https://t.co/RRUiJW5sj0
— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) July 2, 2017
Fleischer added that he wants to see Trump’s contentious relationship with the press softened.
Adam Schiff, a Democrat representing California’s 28th congressional district and a ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, linked Trump’s rhetoric to the real-life violence inflicted in May on Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs, who was body-slammed by Greg Gianforte — the Republican candidate in Montana’s special House contest — on the eve of an election that he eventually won. Gianforte pleaded guilty in court on a charge of misdemeanor assault.
“Where will his downward spiral take us?” Schiff said of Trump.
.@POTUS posts mock video of him attacking press, even after a GOP candidate did exactly that. Where will his downward spiral take us?
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) July 2, 2017
Rep. Eric Swalwell, the Democrat representing California’s 15th congressional district, also responded on Twitter, calling out Republicans in Congress: “You were elected to be a check on power. Check it, or you condone it.”
I am calling on EVERY @HouseGOP Member of Congress to condemn this. You were elected to be a check on power. Check it, or you condone it. https://t.co/ZGR58Ufhww
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) July 2, 2017
John Podhoretz, editor of Commentary magazine and a conservative-leaning critic of the president, compared the tweet to the 2006 Mike Judge-directed satire “Idiocracy,” which explores the possibility of a future in which everyone in America has gotten palpably dumber due in part to the degeneration of our culture.
Welcome to IDIOCRACY everybody. Start pouring Gatorade onto your plants. We’re finished. https://t.co/HZ5iqwIPpU
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) July 2, 2017
“We’re finished,” Podhoretz wrote, after referring to a plot point in the comedy in which it’s discovered that people have been trying to water crops with an energy drink.
The origin of the clip
The video appears to have originated from a highly popular Reddit page dedicated to Trump called “The_Donald,” where many of the president’s online supporters converge.
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