Donald Trump has sent Twitter into chaos after tweeting a doctored photo of himself as boxing movie character Rocky Balboa.

There was no caption. Perhaps he thought it needed no explanation, but it’s sent social media into a spin and left many of his 67 million followers baffled.

The topless photo of himself showing off his washboard abs has already attracted more than 53,000 retweets and 200,000 likes since it was first shared on Thursday morning (Australian time).

pic.twitter.com/11nzKwOCtU

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2019

One social media user wrote: “You are an insane, addled old man who can’t distinguish fact from fantasy, and this is just revolting – and scary.”

Another added: “This just proves you are insane and delusional.”

Others wrote “there are no words” and  “you are legitimately insane of seven-years-old”.

And one said: “Is it just me or did this Trump Rocky photo make anyone else throw up in their mouth a little?”

The Trump-Rocky photo is pretty typical maga bro shitposting, which involves men who absolutely do not fit the standards of masculinity they needlessly revere, upholding them through a kind of mass delusion about what the rest of us see when they look at them.

— Adam Serwer 🍝 (@AdamSerwer) November 27, 2019

Mr Trump is known to boast about his “very good” health, even promising in the election campaign that he would be the “healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency”.

So when reports emerged that the 73-year-old paid an unexpected visit to the Walter Reed Medical Center last weekend, speculation arose about the state of Mr Trump’s health as the stop wasn’t public scheduled for that day.

There were reports that Mr Trump had suffered a heart attack.

On Tuesday, the president used a Florida campaign rally to shut down such speculation.

He said “nothing happened” during the hospital visit, slamming the media for suggesting he had a “massive heart attack”.

“They said, he wasn’t wearing a tie. Which is pretty unusual for me honestly. I should have wore the tie. Maybe it wasn’t their fault. They never apologise. They said he wasn’t wearing a tie. This is a sign of a massive heart attack,” he said during the rally.

The White House later confirmed that Mr Trump decided to get a health check because he wouldn’t have had the time on his hands to do so next year while campaigning for re-election.

Mr Trump bragged about how the doctors praised his physique.

“The first thing they do is say, “Take off your shirt, sir, and show us that gorgeous chest. So we want to see. We’ve never seen a chest quite like it.” No but seriously,’ he said.

-with agencies