© 2026 ABC News

Ari Fleischer, who served as White House press secretary during the first term of Republican George W. Bush, tweeted that he believes the president has gone too far in his ongoing rhetorical battle with the press.

\"I never minded a good 'fight' w the press. It's part of our democracy to disagree. But this goes too far,\" Fleischer wrote in a four part comment on Twitter. \"Some will think it's funny. I find it in poor taste.\"

Fleischer added that he wants to see Trump's contentious relationship with the press softened.

\"The Press should be more fair to Trump. And the President should tone things down,\" he concluded.

1/ I never minded a good \"fight\" w the press. It's part of our democracy to disagree. But this goes too far. https://t.co/RRUiJW5sj0

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) July 2, 2017

Rep. Adam Schiff of California's 28th Congressional District, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, linked Trump's rhetoric to the real life violence inflicted in May on Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs, who was body-slammed by Greg Gianforte, the Republican candidate in Montana's special House contest, on the eve of an election that he eventually won. Gianforte pleaded guilty to a charge of misdemeanor assault.

\"Where will [Trump's] downward spiral take us?\" Schiff asked.

.@POTUS posts mock video of him attacking press, even after a GOP candidate did exactly that. Where will his downward spiral take us?

— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) July 2, 2017

Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California's 15th Congressional District addressed his Republican colleagues on Twitter, saying, \"You were elected to be a check on power. Check it, or you condone it.\"

I am calling on EVERY @HouseGOP Member of Congress to condemn this. You were elected to be a check on power. Check it, or you condone it. https://t.co/ZGR58Ufhww

— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) July 2, 2017

John Podhoretz, the editor of Commentary magazine and a conservative-leaning critic of the president, compared the tweet to the 2006 Mike Judge–directed satire \"Idiocracy,\" which explores the possibility of a future in which everyone in America has gotten palpably dumber in part because of the degeneration of our culture.

\"We're finished,\" Podhoretz wrote, after referring to a plot point in the comedy in which it's discovered that people have been trying to water crops with an energy drink.

Welcome to IDIOCRACY everybody. Start pouring Gatorade onto your plants. We're finished. https://t.co/HZ5iqwIPpU

— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) July 2, 2017

The origin of the clip

The video appears to have originated from a highly popular Reddit page dedicated to Trump called The_Donald, where many of the president’s online supporters converge.

The user posted an exuberant, if expletive-laden response to the news that Trump used his video in a tweet.

\"I wake up and have my morning coffee and who retweets my [post] but the MAGA EMPORER [sic] himself!!!\" the user wrote.

","canonicalUrl":"https://abcnews.com/Politics/critics-pounce-trump-cnn-wrestling-tweet/story?id=48405044","legacySlug":"/news/story/critics-pounce-trump-cnn-wrestling-tweet-48405044","noIndexNoFollow":false},"publishTime":"19:53","publishDate":"07-02-2017","updatedTime":"14:38","updatedDate":"07-03-2017","socialImage":{"alt":"President Donald Trump walks outside the Oval Office before departing the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., June 30, 2017. ","credit":"Michael Reynolds/EPA","ratio":"16x9","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/Politics/EPA-donald-trump-4-jt-170702_16x9_1600.jpg","width":992,"height":558},"datePublished":"7/2/2017 19:53:00 GMT","video":{"live":false,"id":48405044,"headline":"Critics pounce on Trump after CNN wrestling tweet","mediaAssetTitle":"trumptweetreax_Hayden_20170702","description":"The imagery Trump used was first apparently posted on Reddit.","duration":"2:22","posterImg":{"url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","width":608,"height":342},"video":{"feed":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2017/07/170703_gma_kerley_702_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8"},"playlist":["133144263","132956835","132488083"]},"relatedItems":[{"contentType":"video","date":"May 20, 2026","headline":"Fashion mogul’s son arrested in father’s fatal fall","section":"News","slug":"/video/133144263","id":"133144263","image":{"alt":"VIDEO: Fashion mogul’s son arrested in father’s fatal fall","credit":"ABCNews.com","ratio":"1x1","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260520_gma_ally_fall3_732_hpMain_1x1_608.jpg","width":384,"height":384},"images":{"alt":"VIDEO: Fashion mogul’s son arrested in father’s fatal fall","credit":"ABCNews.com","crops":[{"16x9":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260520_gma_ally_fall3_732_hpMain_16x9_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260520_gma_ally_fall3_732_hpMain_16x9_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260520_gma_ally_fall3_732_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg"}},{"9x16":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260520_gma_ally_fall3_732_hpMain_9x16_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260520_gma_ally_fall3_732_hpMain_9x16_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260520_gma_ally_fall3_732_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg"}},{"1x1":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260520_gma_ally_fall3_732_hpMain_1x1_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260520_gma_ally_fall3_732_hpMain_1x1_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260520_gma_ally_fall3_732_hpMain_1x1_1600.jpg"}}]}},{"contentType":"video","date":"May 14, 2026","headline":"Trump meets Xi Jinping in high-stakes Beijing summit","section":"News","slug":"/video/132956835","id":"132956835","image":{"alt":"VIDEO: Trump meets Xi Jinping in high-stakes Beijing summit","credit":"ABCNews.com","ratio":"1x1","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260514_gma_bruce_china1_hpMain_1x1_608.jpg","width":384,"height":384},"images":{"alt":"VIDEO: Trump meets Xi Jinping in high-stakes Beijing summit","credit":"ABCNews.com","crops":[{"16x9":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260514_gma_bruce_china1_hpMain_16x9_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260514_gma_bruce_china1_hpMain_16x9_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260514_gma_bruce_china1_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg"}},{"9x16":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260514_gma_bruce_china1_hpMain_9x16_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260514_gma_bruce_china1_hpMain_9x16_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260514_gma_bruce_china1_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg"}},{"1x1":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260514_gma_bruce_china1_hpMain_1x1_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260514_gma_bruce_china1_hpMain_1x1_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260514_gma_bruce_china1_hpMain_1x1_1600.jpg"}}]}},{"contentType":"video","date":"April 29, 2026","headline":"Grand jury indicts former FBI director over Instagram post","section":"News","slug":"/video/132488083","id":"132488083","image":{"alt":"VIDEO: Grand jury indicts former FBI director over Instagram post","credit":"ABCNews.com","ratio":"1x1","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260429_gma_thomas_comey2_706_hpMain_1x1_608.jpg","width":384,"height":384},"images":{"alt":"VIDEO: Grand jury indicts former FBI director over Instagram post","credit":"ABCNews.com","crops":[{"16x9":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260429_gma_thomas_comey2_706_hpMain_16x9_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260429_gma_thomas_comey2_706_hpMain_16x9_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260429_gma_thomas_comey2_706_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg"}},{"9x16":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260429_gma_thomas_comey2_706_hpMain_9x16_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260429_gma_thomas_comey2_706_hpMain_9x16_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260429_gma_thomas_comey2_706_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg"}},{"1x1":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260429_gma_thomas_comey2_706_hpMain_1x1_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260429_gma_thomas_comey2_706_hpMain_1x1_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260429_gma_thomas_comey2_706_hpMain_1x1_1600.jpg"}}]}}],"relatedContentSection":"news","schemaContent":{"name":"Critics pounce on Trump after CNN wrestling tweet","description":"The imagery Trump used was first apparently posted on Reddit.","duration":"2:22","uploadDate":"07-02-2017","publication":"07-02-2017","images":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","url":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2017/07/170703_gma_kerley_702_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","contentUrl":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2017/07/170703_gma_kerley_702_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","link":"https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/news/story/critics-pounce-trump-cnn-wrestling-tweet-48405044"}},"playlist":[{"id":"133390157","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133415361","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133414032","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133380485","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133358298","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133350119","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133307515","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133307527","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133282665","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133220149","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133179167","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133144373","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133144059","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133143081","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133075455","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133063114","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133063086","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133015093","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132998564","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132998072","contentType":"story","section":"news"}],"kvps":{"pgtyp":"article","lang":"en","sp":"goodmorningamerica","programmatic":"true","bundleId":"com.abcnews"}},"analytics":{"accountID":"wdgnewwdgnewgmaweb","ns":"gma","pageName":"gma:news:video","pageType":"video","globalSpecVersion":"v1.08","siteDifferentiator":"gma:site","tagID":"g_page01","userABCookie":"0","section":"news","title":"Critics pounce on Trump after CNN wrestling tweet","pubTime":"15:53","pubDate":"07-02-2017","modTime":"10:38","modDate":"07-03-2017","taxonomyTags":"none","id":48405044,"editorialOtherSubjects":"","wordCount":"none","columns":"none","authors":"","authorsUnit":"none","authorsBureau":"none","subBrand":"Good Morning America","provider":"Good Morning America","videoName":"Critics pounce on Trump after CNN wrestling tweet","mediaAssetTitle":"trumptweetreax_Hayden_20170702","videoId":48405044,"mediaOnPage":"video","legacySlug":"/news/story/critics-pounce-trump-cnn-wrestling-tweet-48405044"},"taboola":{}},"request":{"headers":{},"httpVersion":"1.1","method":"GET","url":"/video/48405044","vary":{"host":"www.goodmorningamerica.com","cached":true,"path":"/video/48405044","forwarded-proto":"https","device":"desktop","userab":"0"}},"viewport":{"width":1260,"height":0},"user":{}};