On Sunday morning, President Donald Trump continued his war on the media with a tweet sent out to his 33 million followers. Trump posted a clip from his appearance at WrestleMania 23 of himself punching Vince McMahon at ringside during the Battle of the Billionaies match. The CNN logo was added over McMahon’s face and the video was accompanied by hashtags #FraudNewsCNN #FNN.
The tweet was then retweeted by the official @POTUS account. Just 4 hours after his tweet, it had already been watched by more than 4.5 million people and over 139,000 retweets. The tweet will surely draw criticism from both Democrats and Republicans. Republican strategist and political commentator Anna Navarro said on ABC’s “This Week” that Trump’s tweet was “an incitement to violence. He is going to get someone killed in the media.”
Just three days ago, in defense of Trump, deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, “The President in no way form or fashion has ever promoted or encouraged violence. If anything, quite the contrary.” CNN issued the following statement after Trump’s tweet by saying that it’s a “sad day when the President of the United States encourages violence against reporters.” They added, “Instead of preparing for his overseas trip, his first meeting with Vladimir Putin, ‎dealing with North Korea and working on his health care bill, he is instead involved in juvenile behavior far below the dignity of his office. We will keep doing our jobs. He should start doing his.”
This is the latest of tweets directed at the media, namely outlets like CNN, The New York Times and The Washington Post. Trump and the McMahon’s have been friends since the 1980’s. Vince’s wife Linda is currently the Administrator of the Small Business Administration under Trump’s Administration.
#FraudNewsCNN #FNN pic.twitter.com/WYUnHjjUjg
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 2, 2017
