"They'll give you terrible trouble, the British, for this." That was Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar's reaction to Donald Tusk's incendiary comment about Brexiteers on Wednesday.

Varadkar wasn't wrong: Within the hour, Sammy Wilson, Brexit spokesman for the always calm and collected Democratic Unionist Party, called Tusk a "devilish, trident wielding, euro maniac" — and if Tusk isn't cast in that role by a Hollywood studio by the end of the week, then there's no justice in the world.

Tusk tweeted out the comment as well as saying it, indicating that it was planned, rather than off-the-cuff à la his old friend Jean-Claude Juncker.

Here are some examples of Tusk's trigger-happy social media finger in action:

'A special place in hell'

"You know what Brexit negotiations need?"

"What, Donald?"

"Someone pissing off the Brexiteers."

This conversation, or one very similar to it, appears to have taken place in Tusk's office before he met with Irish PM Varadkar in Brussels on Wednesday. "I've been wondering what that special place in hell looks like, for those who promoted Brexit, without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it out safely," he said at a press conference before tweeting out the exact same thing with an added hashtag for extra social media reach.

I've been wondering what that special place in hell looks like, for those who promoted #Brexit, without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it out safely. — Donald Tusk (@eucopresident) February 6, 2019

Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the House of Commons, was one of the Brexiteers to rise to the bait. She said Tusk’s decision to reiterate the comments in a tweet was “spiteful” and told the BBC: “I think that what he has said is pretty unacceptable and pretty disgraceful.”

Jacob Rees-Mogg, the member of parliament for 1850, told his butler to tweet: "Mr Tusk is hardly in the Aquinas class as a theologian and he seems to have forgotten the commandment about not bearing false witness."

Let her eat cake

The EU's Salzburg summit last fall was a low point among low points for Theresa May. She arrived hoping for solidarity and left with her Brexit plans in tatters. Tusk was one of the worst offenders in Austria, declaring that May's Brexit plan "will not work."

But he wasn't finished. Tusk took to Instagram and posted a picture of the U.K. prime minister and himself at a cake stand with the caption: “A piece of cake, perhaps? Sorry, no cherries.”

That was a reference to the long-running assumption in Brussels that Britain wants to “have its cake and eat it” in the talks and also that it is partial to "cherry-picking" which parts of the EU it wants to keep in the Brexit divorce.

Tory MP Charlie Elphicke described the post as "extraordinarily disrespectful."

Aachen all over

Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron were at pains to show a united front when they met last month to sign the Treaty of Aachen, a 16-page contract seeking to boost cooperation in areas such as foreign policy, defense, trade, mobility and research.

It was left to Tusk to voice others' fears with a candid warning to Macron and Merkel at the ceremony. "Let me put it very bluntly: Today Europe needs a clear signal from Paris and Berlin that enhanced cooperation in smaller formats is not an alternative to the cooperation of Europe as a whole," he said.

In time-honored fashion, he tweeted out something similar to pour extra cold water on Merkel and Macron's fire.

Today Europe needs revival of faith in meaning of solidarity and unity. Europe needs clear signal from Paris and Berlin that strengthened cooperation in small formats is not an alternative to cooperation of all of Europe. That it is for integration, not instead of integration. — Donald Tusk (@eucopresident) January 22, 2019

Hippy

Tusk isn't always harsh on the Brexiteers. Even during the "special place in hell" speech, he was saying he wished the U.K. wasn't headed (slowly and unsteadily) toward the door. “You may say I am a dreamer — I am not the only one,” the president of the European Council said during a press conference in June 2017.

He didn't tweet that one out but channeled his inner John Lennon again in March 2018, calling on U.S. President Donald Trump to "make trade, not war."

Make trade, not war, Mr President. Instead of trade war, we should go back to EU-US trade talks now. — Donald Tusk (@eucopresident) March 14, 2018

Action hero

In September 2018, Tusk set out his agenda for the coming months — in the style of a Hollywood blockbuster.

A minute-long clip — made by someone with too much time on their hands and tweeted out by Tusk — featured the hero of the piece (a certain former Polish prime minister) striding purposefully into a variety of high-level meetings with the likes of trusty sidekick Emmanuel Macron and arch-villain Theresa May, all accompanied by stirring music and in-your-face graphics. All that's missing are car chases and explosions.

"COMING UP ... THIS AUTUMN," the OTT clip says before listing such high-octane events as the informal EU leaders' summit in Salzburg, the U.N. General Assembly, two (yes, two!) European Councils, an Asia-Europe meeting and a G20 summit.

In his tweet containing the video message, Tusk wrote: "Bring it on!"

Migration misstep

On a more serious note, hours before the start of a crucial European summit on refugees in June 2015, Tusk tweeted: “No consensus among [member states] on mandatory quotas migrants. Voluntary mechanism only credible with precise & significant pledges by end July.”

Diplomats from Italy and several other countries were furious, saying that Tusk preemptively helped torpedo the plan.

No consensus among MS on mandatory quotas migrants. Voluntary mechanism only credible with precise & significant pledges by end July. #EUCO — Donald Tusk (@eucopresident) June 25, 2015

Asked why he had taken such a strong line, an official at the European Council said, “Tusk sees his role as going beyond that of only being a broker of compromises, as that of being someone who can and should lead the way, when necessary, which sometimes also means more forceful statements.”