US President Donald Trump allegedly retweeted a tweet deeming him a “fascist” before deleting it swiftly from his account.
Twitter user Mike Holden was replying to a Fox News article on the potential pardon of Joe Arpaio. Arpaio is a former sheriff who violated an order to stop racially profiling Latinos, and Holden clearly disagreed with what could be Trump’s first pardon as president.
No ad to show here.
He’s a fascist, so not unusual.
— Mike Holden (@MikeHolden42) August 15, 2017
Dissent for the current president is not unusual on Twitter — but what is unusual is a retweet from a high profile user who predominantly uses retweets as a form of endorsement.
I’m announcing my retirement from Twitter. I’ll never top this RT. pic.twitter.com/HuGHkiPoyR
— Mike Holden (@MikeHolden42) August 15, 2017
The validity of the retweet has been confirmed by several other screenshots.
— Saint C (@Saintfangirl) August 15, 2017
Trump is no stranger to accidental tweeting — think the notorious “covfefe” slip-up — but a retweet requires two clicks to send, which usually keeps a user from making such an error.
It is also alleged that around the same time he retweeted a cartoon of an anthropomorphised CNN being hit by a train. The tweet was also in response to the Fox News article.
Trump just re-tweeted this image, of a CNN journalist being killed, run over by a train 3 days after a woman was killed, run over by a car. pic.twitter.com/TZ09OafrXF
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) August 15, 2017
Nothing can stop the #TrumpTrain
pic.twitter.com/PprEMbiZQa — SL (@SLandinSoCal) August 15, 2017
The debate on whether or not a president should be allowed to delete tweets has been heated, and Democrat Mike Quigley is working on a proposal to make it illegal to destroy a tweet. The argument is that any tweet put out to the public constitutes a presidential statement.
The American Civil Liberties Union has also filed multiple lawsuits against the governers of Maine, Kentucky, and Maryland who blocked citizens on the platform, effectively shutting down a major communication device between constituents and their political leaders.
Featured image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0, edited)
