Donald Trump has promoted a clip from an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm which portrays his supporters as “repellent”.

In the segment, from the first episode of the recently released 10th series of the comedy, an absent-minded Larry David nearly hits a biker as he changes lane.

“Hey, what the f*** are you doing? Motherf*****, what the f***!” the biker shouts, repeating the profanity several times as David apologises profusely.

As the man threatens to “rip [him] out of that f***ing car, David hastily puts on a Make America Great Again hat as he winds the window down, instantly calming the angry biker down, who says: “Just be more careful next time, okay.

The president seized on the sketch, captioning the grainy footage “TOUGH GUYS FOR TRUMP” and pinning it to the top of his Twitter feed. But he appears to have missed some important context.

The episode centres around David’s idea to use the hat as a “great people repellent”, which sees acquaintances and strangers alike shun his company thanks to his apparent support for the president.

Meanwhile, the only person attracted by the hat wants to attack him.

At various points in the episode, David caricatures the president while wearing the hat, saying “sad, so sad” and referencing Mr Trump’s infamous boast about sexually assaulting women with the phrase: “Look, when you’re a celebrity, you can do anything you want.”

In real life, the veteran comedy star was even more direct in his apparent disdain for the president’s fan base.

Asked at an advance screening of the episode if he was worried about “alienating” Trump supporters he joked: “Alienate yourselves! Go, go and alienate! You have my blessing.”

He added, somewhat more seriously: “No, I could give a f***.”

It is unclear whether Mr Trump misinterpreted the sketch as praise, or merely sought to re-appropriate it for his own benefit, but some on social media were quick to point out what they saw as problems with the president portraying himself as a champion of “tough guys”.

On Friday, a furious Mr Trump fired decorated US war veteran Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Vindman, who was ordered by Congress to give evidence during the impeachment inquiry.

The president and his son, Donald Jr, appeared to admit one of the reasons Lt Col Vindman was fired from the National Security Council, was because he gave evidence against Mr Trump.

The Purple Heart recipient’s brother, who was not involved in the impeachment hearings, was also simultaneously fired in the apparent act of revenge.