The current President of the United States is someone whose words and actions evoke some of the most visceral of reactions. Right now, Donald Trump is in the headlines for an unscheduled visit to Afghanistan. However, the thing that interested people more is the fact that he decided to tweet a photograph of his head photoshopped on to the chiselled, muscular torso of Sylvester Stallone playing Rocky Balboa.
It was just this picture, no words, no explanation or context. It was likely meant to be a show of strength; perhaps predicting victory at the end of the ongoing impeachment proceedings? The world is still guessing.
Supporters of Trump expressed their approval for the winning avatar that Trump presented himself in.
It may be difficult for the rest of the world to comprehend, but there is a large segment of the American population that remains staunchly loyal; in whose eyes the Donald can do no wrong.
A lot of people thought it was all in jest and good fun; that politics would benefit from the injection of a bit of levity.
Has he lost it was the tenor of many of the tweets. They also decided to clarify the difference between delusion and reality.
This one features Nancy Pelosi (who initiated the impeachment inquiry against Trump) sucker punching Trump; a sporting allegory for the ongoing proceedings and the possible outcomes.
Some of the tweeple thought that the picture was appropriate. Rocky, the movie character depicted in the photo-shopped image is a “brain-damaged, incurious, semi-literate, mobbed-up bully,” and therefore appropriate they thought.
Many of the tweeple posted actual pictures of Donald Trump who is known to be overweight and fond of junk food.
They took the face of Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa and photoshopped it on to Trump's body… alas, far less fetching.
Many of the tweeple though had jocular statements to make about expectation vs. reality.
This physician and body language expert analysed the Trump tweet. In his view, the image signifies a negative self-image, self-loathing and envy for his predecessor’s intelligence and popularity.
One Twitter user superimposed Trump’s face on to Jabba the Hutt. Another simply captioned the image tweeted by Trump as “eye of the liar” (alluding to Eye of the Tiger, title track of the film Rocky).
Some felt compelled to point out the non-photoshopped images of other world leaders.
This image of his predecessor was widely shared.
Some of the tweeple got quite nostalgic.
This tweet refers to Trump’s well-known affection for Russian leader Vladimir Putin and the alleged Russian involvement in the last presidential elections.
Some of the tweeple had some really brutal responses to the president’s tweeted image.
Some of the tweeple shared some very un-doctored, very unflattering images. As #RockyTrump continued to trend, many other unflattering images of Trump surfaced; making it clear that the internet never forgets.
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