Donald Trump sent the internet into a frenzy when he tweeted a video edited by Reddit user “HanAssholeSolo” showing him beating up CNN.
Another day, another incredible tweet from President Donald Trump.
Just a few days after spurring controversy for tweets he sent criticizing MSNBC hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough for their negative coverage of him, Trump one-upped himself and put the focus back on CNN, the news network he’s consistently deemed as the enemy of the United States. He sent a video tweet from his official Twitter in the morning of July 2 that depicted him taking on CNN with his fists.
That video, in GIF form, was created and first posted to Reddit by user “ HanAssholeSolo .”
Here’s what you need to know:
HanAssholeSolo edited the video and posted it to the Trump sub-Reddit, /r/The_Donald on June 29. The submission was the top post on the sub-Reddit for part of the day and got almost 9,000 upvotes, though there was no telling that the president would tweet a copy of it out.
The GIF that HanAssholeSolo created shows Trump at WrestleMania 23 in 2007 throwing WWE owner Vince McMahon to the ground and pummeling him with punches. That occurred after Trump, a WWE Hall of Famer, and McMahon agreed to be the “managers” in a match at the annual wrestling pay-per-view dubbed “ The Battle of the Billionaires.”
The plan was for Trump and McMahon to each select a wrestler of their choice. If Trump’s wrestler won the match, then he would get to shave McMahon’s head and vice-versa.
Of course, Trump wouldn’ t stand to lose his signature hair. So it was Trump who won the match, as the wrestler he selected won. He proceeded to shave McMahon’s head, but not before the two had an altercation outside of the ring where Trump tackled McMahon to the ground and “punched” him while doing so.
Watch below for the original video of the incident:
But it was Stone Cold Steve Austin, who was a special guest referee in the match, that got the last laugh. He gave Trump a “Stone Cold Stunner” in the middle of the ring before consuming a few “ Steveweisers.
In using the footage, HanAssholeSolo placed a CNN logo on the head of McMahon when he and Trump got into it on the outside of the ring.
McMahon and Trump are longtime friends, and Vince’s wife Linda is in Trump’s cabinet as the Administrator of the Small Business Administration.
The reaction to the tweet was massive.
Within five hours of sending it, the video received almost 170,000 re-tweets and over 260,000 likes.
Perhaps the person that was most surprised by the tweet was HanAssholeSolo himself, who wrote in a comment:
The user did note that his original video, which was in GIF form, that it’s not exactly the same as the one he posted. The video that Trump tweeted had sound matched up with it and an FNN logo at the end where as HanAssholeSolo’s didn’ t. But the two had the original logo the Reddit user created and it matches the way it’s moving.
HanAssholeSolo has been a registered Reddit user for 18 months and often frequents the pro-Trump sub-Reddit called “/r/The_Donald.”
According to RedditInvestigator.com, a website that analyzes Reddit accounts, HanAssholeSolo has been a registered user on the website since December 16,2015. The sub-Reddit that he posts to the most is The_Donald, with a close second being the controversial /r/ImGoingToHellForThis.
HanAssholeSolo’s most up-voted comment came in one that he made in /r/TIFU, a sub-Reddit where users tell stories of how they screwed up.
In that particular post, a man told the story of how he showed his 7-year-old daughter videos of the Japan tsunami in 2011 that killed about 20,000 people. In doing so, the daughter became extremely scared that one of the storms would strike their home, which is located by the sea.
In his comment, HanAssholeSolo jokingly suggested that the father soak himself in water and egg his daughter on.
The highest-rated post that the Reddit user has sent in his 18 months as a user was a post that criticized double standards of liberals. In it, he posted two tweets from the same Twitter user showing his reaction to separate terror attacks in the U. K.
The post to Reddit received almost 18,000 upvotes and had almost 500 comments.
The video/GIF taken from Reddit isn’ t the only time that the Trump team has lifted something from the social news aggregation website.
The Atlantic Daily reported that Trump — or more realistically his staff — may use Reddit.
The speculation continued to mount after Trump continued his beef with comedian Rosie O’ Donnell on Twitter.
Just one day after firing FBI Director James Comey, Trump pulled up a December 2016 O’ Donnell tweet pleading for someone to “FIRE COMEY.” After following through on the firing, Trump quoted the tweet and said: “We finally agree on something Rosie.”
Coincidentally — or maybe not — a post calling out O’ Donnell on her thoughts of Comey was posted to The_Donald just 20 minutes before Trump tweeted it, BuzzFeed reporter Brandon Wall pointed out.
Politio’s Ben Schreckinger reported in April that Trump’s social media team monitors social trends — including The_Donald sub-reddit.
While Trump’s administration has drawn stark criticism from those on both sides of the aisle, some on the internet have a far different opinion.
The subscribers to The_Donald on Reddit have an abundance of support for Trump. The sub-Reddit boasts almost 400,000 members and is one of the most popular ones on the website, which is now the fourth most popular website on the internet, according to Alexa.com .
Posts to the sub-Redidt, however, seem to be more satirical and users often refer to Trump as their “ God Emperor ” and “ Daddy .”
Posts feature a boatload of memes, and members of the sub-Reddit waged the “ Great Meme War ” during the 2016 presidential election. That was an effort to get him elected by flooding the internet with content that promotes Trump and bashes Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
