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Trump's wrestling tweet delivers a sobering reminder: This is not a game

It's hard to read this as anything other than a call to violence.

Adam Rosenberg

on July 2, 2017

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

There is a grain of truth in every joke. Or, as may be the case here, an entire granary.

Donald Trump struck a nerve on Sunday morning when his recently ramped up attacks on the media in general -- and CNN in particular -- took a troubling turn. In a single tweet, the only person in the world with the power to authorize U.S. nuclear strikes implicitly endorsed violence against the free press.

Let's let this statement from the "modern day presidential" White House speak for itself first.

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The video is a doctored version of Trump's IRL (but totally fake, because wrestling) pummeling of Vince McMahon during a WWE broadcast of Wrestlemania XXIII, from 2007. Only in place of McMahon's head, we see the CNN logo -- one of Trump's top media targets since becoming president.

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CNN's Brian Stelter traced the doctored clip back to a recent post on pro-Trump subreddit TheDonald.

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Trump's tweet doesn't lift that GIF directly -- the version uploaded to his account is a looping video, with sound, and GIFs have no sound. Presumably, someone on the Trump social media team either created this video or communicated with the video's creator to get it shared by @RealDonaldTrump.

As many have noted, the video draws a chilling parallel with another recent event. It wasn't so long ago that an actual (and since elected) candidate for a Congressional seat -- Montana's Greg Gianforte -- body-slammed The Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs.

Whether or not Trump intended to reference that moment, the connection is plain as day. Social media was quick to call out what can easily be read as an implicit call to violence against the Fourth Estate.

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Topics X/Twitter Donald Trump Politics

Adam Rosenberg

Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.