Trump posts body slam video after defending his "modern presidential" Twitter claim
Donald Trump isn't the first U.S. president to communicate via social media. But he's the first to use social platforms to harass TV hosts, celebrate violence against the media, and share basically any unfiltered thought at 5 a.m.
That, according to Trump, is what makes him not just presidential, but "MODERN DAY PRESIDENTIAL."
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Following a series of tweets on Saturday, Trump posted a bizarrely doctored video of him body-slamming the CNN logo.
The original clip is from 2007, when Trump theatrically body-slammed WWE Chairman Vince McMahon to roaring applause on WrestleMania 23. The anti-CNN video showed up on "the_donald" Reddit thread four days ago, CNN's Brian Stelter noted.
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Trump has stepped up his verbal attacks on CNN in recent days after the network retracted an article that alleged one of Trump's aides was under investigation by Congress.
CNN later removed the story from its website following an internal investigation, and three high-profile journalists resigned.
The error apparently inspired Trump to escalate his go-to insult for news media from "fake" to "fraudulent."
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Trump's characteristically venomous tweets arrive as the president is facing growing pressure to put down his smartphone.
Last week, Trump referred to Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, cohosts of MSNBC's weekday show Morning Joe, as "low I.Q. Crazy Mika" and "Psycho Joe." He also claimed Brzezinski was "bleeding badly from a face-lift" this past New Year's Eve.
Policymakers from both sides of the aisle condemned the tweet and Trump's use of social media in general.
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said the "Presidential platform should be used for more than bringing people down." Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina said the tweet was "represents what is wrong with American politics, not the greatness of America."
Trump, however, claims the condemnation only proves that the media is working hard to kick him off of social media -- not because he regularly fires off crude, sexist, incendiary, and unsubstantiated remarks, but because the media just doesn't like him, his thinking seems to go.
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Trump's approach to social media is evidently so modernly presidential that now Congress might preserve his tweets indefinitely.
Democratic Rep. Mike Quigley of Illinois introduced the Covfefe Act, which would expand the Presidential Records Act to include any social media post shared by the President of the United States -- including personal accounts like @realDonaldTrump.
The Communications Over Various Feeds Electronically for Engagement Act not-so-coyly refers to Trump's infamous "covfefe" typo from May.
Despite the mounting criticism, Trump apparently sees no need to pause and reconsider his "MODERN DAY PRESIDENTIAL" approach.
On Saturday, he once again dubbed MSNBC's Scarborough as "Crazy Joe" and called Brzezinski "dumb as a rock." A day later, he shared the doctored clip of him body-slamming CNN.
More venom for the presidential archive.
Maria Gallucci was a Science Reporter at Mashable. She was previously the energy and environment reporter at International Business Times; features editor of Makeshift magazine; clean economy reporter for InsideClimate News; and a correspondent in Mexico City until 2011. Maria holds degrees in journalism and Spanish from Ohio University's Honors Tutorial College.
