Will & Grace star Debra Messing faces backlash over photoshopped image linking Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler because they are both holding a book (5 Pics)

Actress Debra Messing has drawn backlash after posting photos purporting to draw a link between President Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler.

'A dog whistle to white nationalists and Nazis,' commented Messing above the images of Trump holding a Bible on Monday and a doctored photo of Hitler holding a book.

'This is not an accident' read the caption on the two photos.

Actress Debra Messing has drawn backlash for a Twitter post about Trump and Hitler

The Will & Grace star's tweet was met with an avalanche of replies pointing out that the photo of Hitler had been edited from the original to add a book to the Nazi dictator's hand.

'You DO realize the Hitler photo is a fake, don't you? It was photo-shopped you mindless twit,' wrote radio host Neal Boortz.

'Please check stuff before you spread it. The Hitler photo is fake,' BuzzFeed News media editor Craig Silverman told Messing. 

Others questioned why the act of holding a Bible would be viewed as a secret reference to Hitler, even if the photo were real.

'Hollywood elites: anyone holding a Bible is Hitler! This is idiocy,' said Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican. 

One person posted side-by-side photos of Trump and Hitler drinking a glass of water, with the caption 'well well well.'

Messing has been outspoken about her anti-Trump politics in recent years.

Trump also faced harsh criticism for the photo-op that produced the image of him holding the Bible, after riot police cleared away a crowd on Monday for him to walk to St. John's Episcopal church from the White House. 

Attorney General Bill Barr personally ordered federal police forces to clear Lafayette park of protesters shortly before President Donald Trump staged the photo-op. 

The order set in motion a brash use of force where federal law enforcement reportedly used tear gas, rubber bullets, and mounted officers to push protesters out of the square across the street from the White House. 

The move led to howls of protest from Trump critics – but not his traditional allies – after Trump staged a photo-op in front of St. John's church just minutes after the use of force. 

The acting chief of the U.S. Park Police police claimed in a statement that his forces did not use tear gas, despite eyewitness accounts and a priest at St. John's who says she was 'coughing with tear gas in my clergy collar.'