Trump promoted a suspicious Twitter account. It got deleted. Internet sleuths are on the case.
On Saturday, President Trump was in his natural habitat — the dregs of his own Twitter mentions — when he happened upon a tweet from an account called @ProTrump45. The president retweeted it, which looked like this:
@ProTrump45's name was displayed as "Nicole Mincey," and the account's avatar showed a young black woman. As has become standard routine whenever the president promotes random Twitter users (some of whom have turned out to be less than exemplary people), internet sleuths got busy.
The account apparently existed to promote ProTrump45.com, which sells Trump-branded clothes and bills itself as "the perfect store built by a trump supporter for trump supporters" who "are not bigots thats how fake news painted us [sic throughout]."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Nicole Mincey, however, doesn't exist — well, not exactly. Though The Washington Post reported the account "bears a lot of signs of a Russia-backed disinformation campaign," per investigations from BuzzFeed News and The Daily Beast, the name is a variation of the real name of real woman in New Jersey. She is indeed a young, African-American Trump supporter, but she is not the woman in the avatar. That image came from a stock photo site called PlaceIt, and it was edited to make the model's skin lighter.
The woman in New Jersey told reporters from BuzzFeed and The Daily Beast the account was managed by a group of Trump supporters from around the country to promote their online store. She claimed she no longer wants the group to base the account on her name and biography, but the other members refused to drop the Mincey character.
Since Trump's retweet, the account and a host of other fake, stock photo-fronted accounts with which it interacted to advertise the store have been suspended by Twitter. Trump has not directly commented on the situation.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
Can Mike Johnson keep his job?Today's Big Question GOP women come after the House leader
-
A postapocalyptic trip to Sin City, a peek inside Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour, and an explicit hockey romance in December TVthe week recommends This month’s new television releases include ‘Fallout,’ ‘Taylor Swift: The End Of An Era’ and ‘Heated Rivalry’
-
‘These accounts clearly are designed as a capitalist alternative’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump tightens restrictions for work visasSpeed Read The length of work permits for asylum seekers and refugees has been shortened from five years to 18 months
-
Supreme Court revives Texas GOP gerrymanderSpeed Read Texas Republicans can use the congressional map they approved in August at President Donald Trump’s behest
-
Boat strike footage rattles some lawmakersSpeed Read ‘Disturbing’ footage of the Sept. 2 attack on an alleged drug-trafficking boat also shows the second strike that killed two survivors who were clinging to the wreckage
-
Trump boosts gas cars in fuel economy rollbackspeed read Watering down fuel efficiency standards is another blow to former President Biden’s effort to boost electric vehicles
-
Hegseth’s Signal chat put troops in peril, probe findsSpeed Read The defense secretary risked the lives of military personnel and violated Pentagon rules, says new report
-
Trump pardons Texas Democratic congressmanspeed read Rep. Henry Cuellar was charged with accepting foreign bribes tied to Azerbaijan and Mexico
-
GOP wins tight House race in red Tennessee districtSpeed Read Republicans maintained their advantage in the House
-
Trump targets ‘garbage’ Somalis ahead of ICE raidsSpeed Read The Department of Homeland Security will launch an immigration operation targeting Somali immigrants in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area
