Donald Trump has shared a tweet that included a GIF of him hitting a golf ball at Hillary Clinton and striking her on the head.
Clinton had been back on the Republican president’s Twitter feed in recent days as she promoted “What Happened,” her new book about the 2016 presidential election, with Trump resuming his campaign attack of “Crooked Hillary”.
The video, retweeted by several users, shows Trump on a golf course hitting a ball before segueing to the doctored shot of a golf ball hitting then-Secretary of State Clinton in the back as she is boarding a plane. The original video of Clinton, from 2011, does not show a golf ball.
“Donald Trump’s amazing golf swing #CrookedHillary,” the tweet read.
The tweet came from a user named @Fuctupmind, whose Twitter bio indicates that he wants Clinton to be in prison and
It also suggests he believes the conspiracy theory that Democrats had something to do with the death of former Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich.
It was not unusual to see violent and misogynistic imagery directed at Clinton at Trump rallies during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Last week, Clinton noted that there was significant criticism directed toward comedian Kathy Griffin when she held up a fake decapitated head of Trump ― and added that she didn’t remember the same outcry over images of her.
“We recently had this big kerfuffle ― this condemnation of Kathy Griffin ― for the picture she had of herself holding a head of Trump like a play on Perseus holding the head of Medusa,” Clinton said. “They were selling T-shirts and mugs at the Republican [National] Convention with Trump holding my head. Nobody said a word. Not a word!”
Trump attacked Clinton directly last Wednesday in a pair of Twitter posts.
“Crooked Hillary Clinton blames everybody (and every thing) but herself for her election loss,” he said. “She lost the debates and lost her direction! The ‘deplorables’ came back to haunt Hillary. They expressed their feelings loud and clear. She spent big money but, in the end, had no game!”
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said later that day that Clinton was pushing “false narratives” in the book. Clinton admits mistakes during the campaign in the book but gives a harsh account of factors she believes led to Trump’s victory, including alleged interference by Russia on his behalf and former FBI Director James Comey announcement that investigators were looking at a new trove of emails related to Clinton.
Clinton, who has been giving a series of interviews promoting the book, responded to Trump’s earlier criticism on Twitter with a suggestion that he read her earlier book, “It Takes a Village,” a picture book for children.
A senior Democrat, U.S. Representative Adam Schiff, said Trump’s retweet did not make him question Trump’s recent outreach to Democrats but was disturbing.
“It is distressing, though, to have a president that frankly will tweet and retweet things as juvenile as that,” Schiff said on ABC’s This Week programme. “It doesn’t help, I think in terms of his stature, it doesn’t help in terms of the stature of our whole country.”
The retweet drew hundreds of Trump’s critics and supporters into a Twitter row.
“You’re a child. Beneath the dignity of your office. Grow up. Be a man,” the actor James Morrison replied to Trump.