Violent video depicting Trump massacring media, Democrats raises condemnation

A violent video widely circulating on social media depicting U.S. President Donald Trump massacring media and political opponents drew swift condemnation for inciting violence.

The video, in which Trump's face was superimposed on a character from the film "Kingsman: The Secret Service," shows the president massacring dozens of others, whose faces were edited to show those of major U.S. media outlets, major Democratic politicians, and Democratic presidential candidates.

Some media appearing in the video included PBS, NPR, Politico, The Washington Post and NBC. Former U.S. President Barack Obama, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, Bill and Hillary Clinton and a host of individuals were also shown as the victims of violence.

The video was reportedly shown last week in a conference for the president's supporters at a Trump resort in the U.S. state of Florida. It was then uploaded to the Internet, and came under fire immediately for inciting violence against the press and political opponents.

In a statement released late Sunday, the White House Correspondents Association said it was "horrified" by the video.

"All Americans should condemn this depiction of violence directed toward journalists and the President's political opponents," the statement said.

"We have previously told the President his rhetoric could incite violence. Now we call on him and everybody associated with this conference to denounce this video and affirm that violence has no place in our society," it said.

Former White House Director of Communications Anthony Scaramucci slammed the video as "disgusting intolerable incitement of violence."

In a statement, media outlet CNN said the video was not the first time Trump's supporters promoted violence against the media, "but it is by far and away the worst."

"The president and his family, the White House, and the Trump campaign need to denounce it immediately in the strongest terms. Anything less equates to a tacit endorsement of violence," it said.

In light of mounting pressure, White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham responded to the video on Monday morning, saying Trump will see it shortly.

"Based upon everything he (Trump) has heard, he strongly condemns this video," Grisham said.

It is not the first time a video featuring a figure resembling Trump made it into the headlines. In 2017, Trump tweeted a video showing himself wrestling a figure -- whose face was masked by a CNN logo -- to the ground.