It’s no secret that journalism, especially political journalism is dangerous. The Committee to Protect Journalists frequently puts out a list of the most dangerous places to report (currently Mexico) from and the most common threat to journalists (murder).

But the true threat to journalists and news networks everywhere is the PRESIDENTIAL CLOTHESLINE!

In the video, posted from both US President Donald Trump’s personal and the official POTUS accounts, Trump tackles and beats a CNN proxy before getting up and walking away. The source for the video is a clip from 2007 showing Trump body-slamming World Wrestling Entertainment owner Vince McMahon.

It is unclear if there was any specific report that Trump took umbrage to or simply the network’s coverage of his presidency as a whole. (As of this morning, the tweet has garnered over 300,000 retweets and well over 500,000 likes).

Trump has repeatedly made known his disdain for the media, calling it “the enemy of the American people” and frequently referring to mainstream news organisations as “failing” or “fake news” and recently “fraud news”.

“It is a sad day when the President of the United States encourages violence against reporters,” CNN said in a statement.

Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi also criticised the video, “Violence and violent imagery to bully the press must be rejected.”

CNN contributor and former Nixon White House counsel, John Dean, said Trump was “incompetent as president but is experienced at bullying”.

Of course, what makes this particularly awkward is that this was posted merely days after White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was given the unenviable task of defending Trump’s tweets about MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski. Filling in for Sean Spicer, whose sighs of relief could be heard in Sarvodaya Enclave, she said, “The president in no way, form or fashion has ever promoted or encouraged violence. If anything, quite the contrary.”

Ahem.

It is unclear at this time if Sanders is considering resigning her position in favour of something less stressful, such as journalism.

Even if we ignore the fact that Trump has been sued for inciting violence, his own party feels he has gone too far. Republican strategist and CNN political commentator Ana Navarro said that Trump was going to get someone killed with his tweets.

But what is a story about American democracy without a dash of conspiracy theory and anti-semitism? Jared Yates Sexton, a journalist who teaches writing and linguistics at Georgia Southern University, reported that the president had shared an internet meme created by a Reddit user called “HanAssholeSolo.” However, at some point in the four days after HanAssholeSolo’s original post, someone modified the gif by adding audio and converting it to a video format. And that’s when it apparently found its way into the hands of the president, who tweeted it.

“Congratulations /u/HanAssholeSolo, your dankery has been tweeted by the President of the United States,” was the most popular post on the original thread. “Wow!! I never expected my meme to be retweeted by the God Emporer [sic] himself!!!” HanAssholeSolo responded.

Sexton pointed out that HanAssholeSolo’s previous posts were often sexist, racist and anti-semitic. He or she had in fact, recently posted a list, identifying Jewish employees at CNN. Surprising absolutely no one, Sexton reported on Monday that he had now gotten numerous threats – often accompanied by anti-semitic and Nazi themes.

White House Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert defended the tweet, saying: “No one would perceive that as a threat. I hope they don’t.” It is also unclear if he had his fingers crossed as he said that.

But, not everyone is as optimistic as Bossert, Australian comedian Mark Humphries posted this video on his twitter, of life under Trump for a major news network. The video begins with the same clip tweeted by Trump with a voice in the background that says, “There are a lot of risks associated with a career in journalism, I never thought being clotheslined by the President will be one of them.”

Albeit the tiny embarrassment of the Financial Express, mistaking the above for an official CNN response, the video has gone viral.

The video has paved the way for a dialogue between the press and the public and the importance of independent media freedom. If nothing else, it has made people acutely aware of how difficult and often times dangerous it is to bring the truth out.

Perhaps, Prannoy Roy, Firstpost, and NDTV India might want to take a page out of Humphries report as opposed to delivering heartfelt paeans over the Press Club’s egg on toasts.