Trump retweets video of him hitting Clinton with a golf ball

United States President Donald Trump has retweeted a doctored video showing him swinging a golf club and appearing to hit former Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton with a golf ball.

The animated image, which the president retweeted on Sunday, also shows Clinton tripping and falling after being hit in the back as she boards a plane in 2011 as the secretary of state, CNN reported.

Within hours, the post was retweeted by more than 28,000 people and liked 62,000 times.

• See the tweet here (external link)

The tweet also earned him quick criticism with many people on social media saying that the president is not fit.

A Twitter handle named @kspainhome said: “The leader of our country is a bully who promotes this. So sad!”

The White House did not respond to a request for comment about the tweet. A spokesperson for Clinton also declined to comment.

Former Office of Government Ethics Director Walter Shaub, who repeatedly criticised the Trump administration about potential conflicts of interest before resigning in July, slammed Trump for the retweet and said he reported it to Twitter for violating the social media platform’s rules of conduct.

“The President of the United States just retweeted a video vignette that imagines him assaulting his political rival. The man is unfit,” tweeted Shaub, who joined the ethics office as a staff attorney early during the George W Bush administration and was appointed as the office’s director by President Barack Obama.

The tweet came as Trump is preparing for a critical round of powerhouse diplomacy with world leaders at the United Nations.

Last week, Clinton promoted her new book, “What Happened,” about her experiences as the Democratic party’s nominee for president of the US in the 2016 election. She lost the presidential race to Trump.

Trump slammed Clinton over her new book earlier this week too, tweeting that she “blames everybody (and every thing) but herself for her election loss.”

Image: Donald Trump tees off from the The Trump International Golf Links Course in Balmedie, Scotland. Photograph: Ian MacNicol/Getty Images