Joe Arpaio (left), a controversial figure for, among other practices, his aggressive enforcement of immigration law, was a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump during last year’s election. | Mary Altaffer/AP Trump retweets then deletes post calling him a fascist

President Donald Trump on Tuesday shared a Twitter post with his followers that called him a “fascist.”

The Twitter exchange began Tuesday morning when Trump retweeted a post from the account of Fox News’ morning show “Fox & Friends” linking to a story about the possibility of the president pardoning former Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was recently convicted of criminal contempt by a judge in Arizona. Arpaio, a controversial figure for, among other practices, his aggressive enforcement of immigration law, was a vocal Trump supporter during last year’s election.


A Twitter user named Mike Holden responded to the “Fox & Friends” post by writing “he's a fascist, so not unusual,” which Trump then retweeted from his own account. Holden later clarified that his “fascist” label had been directed at Trump.

Minutes later, the president undid his retweet without explanation.

I'm announcing my retirement from Twitter. I'll never top this RT. pic.twitter.com/HuGHkiPoyR — Mike Holden (@MikeHolden42) August 15, 2017

The president also retweeted a post from another user featuring a cartoon depicting a train with "Trump" written on the side running over an individual with a CNN logo for its head. The post was similar to one that landed Trump in hot water earlier this summer, when the president posted an animated image of himself from a professional wrestling appearance tackling an individual with a CNN logo for a head. Trump's Tuesday morning CNN cartoon was quickly removed from Trump's feed.

One retweet that remained on the president's feed came Monday night from alt-right figure Jack Posobiec, who complained online that violent crime in Chicago had not received the same media attention as a deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Posobiec is active in alt-right social media circles and has posted tweets promoting baseless conspiracy theories alleging that prominent Democrats had run a child sex ring out of a Washington, D.C., pizzeria.