President Donald Trump has sparked widespread outrage for sharing a Twitter post depicting him hitting former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton with a golf ball, after he was described as being “unfit” for office.

The animated GIF spliced together a clip of Mr Trump swinging a golf club with footage of Mrs Clinton falling into an airplane doorway, edited to appear as if a golf ball had knocked her down.

The video was originally posted as a reply to the President by a Twitter user named @Fuctupmind, who uses pro-Trump, anti-Clinton hashtags.

Captioned “Donald Trump’s amazing golf swing #CrookedHillary,” the retweet immediately drew thousands of Trump critics and supporters into a familiar debate, with many accusing the GIF of encouraging violence.

Donald Trump's amazing golf swing #CrookedHillary pic.twitter.com/vKhxxFCBV1

— Mike (@Fuctupmind) September 14, 2017

“The man is unfit,” said Walter M. Shaub Jr., former director of the independent Office of Government Ethics who resigned in July after clashing with the White House.

“You’re a child. Beneath the dignity of your office. Grow up. Be a man,” actor James Morrison replied to Trump.

https://twitter.com/waltshaub/status/909427564455890949

The post follows a series of questionable retweets by the President, including perceived violent videos and images attacking CNN among others.

Chief of Staff John Kelly was thought to have encouraged Mr Trump to allow him to vet his tweets before posting them. CNN reports the President has sometimes agreed to the request.

The White House has not commented on the retweet or whether Kelly was aware of it.

Mrs Clinton has declined to comment on the tweet to US media.

The retweet comes as Mr Trump prepares to head to New York for a critical round of meetings with world leaders at the United Nations.

The post also follows the release of Mrs Clinton’s book, What Happened, about the 2016 campaign, which renewed criticisms of Mr Trump and his supporters.

Mr Trump slammed Mrs Clinton over the new book last week, tweeting that she “blames everybody (and every thing) but herself for her election loss”.

Last month, just a day after belatedly condemning white supremacists over the deadly Charlottesville riot, Mr Trump retweeted an offensive cartoon by a far-right activist.

The post cartoon depicting a man labeled “CNN” being hit by a train labelled “Trump” was deleted minutes later, but not before being retweeted hundreds of times and captured on screen shots by journalists and activists.

The violence in the tweet drew comparisons with the death of activist Heather Heyer, who was run down by a white supremacist at Charlottesville.

An unnamed White House official told CNN hours later that the retweet was “inadvertently posted”.

Trump RT'd this pic showing a CNN journalist hit by a train days after a white nationalist ran his car into activists, killed Heather Heyer. pic.twitter.com/tWjdoE70AS

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 15, 2017

The same day, Mr Trump oddly retweeted UK user Mike Holden who described the President as a “fascist, so not unusual.”

That retweet was also deleted, after Mr Holden celebrated his brief brush with fame.

I'm announcing my retirement from Twitter. I'll never top this RT. pic.twitter.com/HuGHkiPoyR

— Mike Holden 💙 (@MikeHolden42) August 15, 2017

Mr Trump sparked condemnation in July when he posted a bizarre video on social media of him wrestling a man with a CNN logo superimposed in place of his head, followed by a logo saying “Fraud News Network”.

The video, first posted to Donald Trump’s personal account, was shortly after retweeted to the official presidential POTUS Twitter page.

#FraudNewsCNN #FNN pic.twitter.com/WYUnHjjUjg

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 2, 2017

– With agencies