Trump deletes tweet telling people to vote for Spicer on 'Dancing With the Stars' after elimination

William Cummings, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump deleted a tweet Monday encouraging "Dancing With the Stars" viewers to vote for Sean Spicer after his former communications director was eliminated from the show.

"Vote for Sean Spicer on Dancing with the Stars," the president tweeted, according to screenshots of the tweet shared by other Twitter users. "He is a great and very loyal guy who is working very hard. He is in the quarterfinals – all the way with Sean! #MAGA #KAG"

Trump later saluted his former spokesman's effort in a separate post: "A great try by @seanspicer. We are all proud of you!"

The president, a former reality TV star himself, has been a cheerleader for Spicer's run on the ABC dance competition, posting three tweets and one retweet in support of him in recent months.

Last week, Trump posted a tweet very similar to the one he deleted on Monday. "Vote for Sean Spicer on Dancing with the Stars. He is a great and very loyal guy who is working very hard! #MAGA," he said.

On Oct. 22, Trump shared a tweet from his former White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus, who wrote that he was "loving these Libs melting down because @seanspicer keeps surviving" the show's elimination rounds.

"Maybe it’s because people are actually voting for him!" said Priebus, whose every tweet dating back to Oct. 21 was related to Spicer's performance. In another post, Priebus reiterated his belief that Spicer's success on the show had political roots because "he has a natural base that's voting for him."

Many observers agreed that his survival on the show had little to do with his skills on the dance floor, which former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee compared to "a drunken Baptist with a bad leg."

'Dancing with the Stars': Why Sean Spicer survives despite the lowest judge scores

After his loss, Spicer thanked Trump for his support. "I can't begin to express how much your continued support has meant, especially during my time on @DancingABC," he said.

Many Twitter users who took notice of Trump's deleted tweet mocked the president for the move. Several of them compared Spicer's loss to the defeat of others who received Trump's endorsement recently, including Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, who lost his reelection bid despite Trump's efforts, and the University of Alabama football team, which lost a home game Trump attended.

"This has to be one of the most unusual potential violations of the Presidential Records Act in history," tweeted Jewish Insider reporter Ben Jacobs.

Here were some other reactions:

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Sean Spicer loses on 'Dancing With the Stars,' Trump deletes tweet