Conservative analyst and commentator Bill Kristol said on Sunday that President Trump’s anti-Trump video tweet was “recapitulating the decline and fall of Rome.”
Earlier Sunday, POTUS tweeted a Reddit video clip altering a 2007 clip from Wrestlemania of the president and body-slamming and punching WWE CEO Vince McMahon, but with McMahon’s face replaced by a CNN logo.
The tweet has evoked harsh criticism from both sides of the aisle for its violent and angry imagery aimed at the press, which is referred to as the “fourth estate” of the government.
“The speed with which we’re recapitulating the decline and fall of Rome is impressive. What took Rome centuries we’re achieving in months,” wrote Kristol, who served as Vice President Dan Quayle’s chief of staff to during George H.W. Bush’s presidency.
The founder and editor of the right-leaning magazine The Weekly Standard and a frequent commentator on TV, Kristol was a vocal opponent of Trump throughout the 2016 campaign and ever since.
The speed with which we're recapitulating the decline and fall of Rome is impressive. What took Rome centuries we're achieving in months. https://t.co/4TVXc4C5Ex
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) July 2, 2017
Most of Kristol’s followers seem to agree with his comparison.
That is a jam-packed tweet. A whole trilogy packed into 140 characters!
— Belle Weather (@Thoreaus_Horse) July 2, 2017
I’m confused. Even after everything, I still cannot believe this would be posted from the President’s account. What. Is. Happening?
— William Meservy (@WilliamMeservy) July 2, 2017
Rome fell because the Senate was too weak and too scared to oust a tyrant.
And too well bribed. Weak men toppled Rome.— Laffmotron (@laffmotron) July 2, 2017
Fake heroics staged at a fake sporting event by a lifelong fraud to make an alpha male claim over a core value of #democracy: a #freepress.
— Charlie Griffith (@cegriff3) July 2, 2017
And even then we would STILL be miles away from the Roman Empire. Call me when the gladiator battles and wild animal maulings begin.
— Cory Moesta (@CoryMoesta) July 2, 2017
If this tweet stands without retraction….. One now has license to create videos depicting violence against political foes w/o consequence.
— Wolfpack WitchHunter (@rwwilmington) July 2, 2017