What to Know
As many Americans celebrated the holiday season with their families, President Donald Trump appeared to spend a large chunk of his time on Truth Social. During an apparent posting spree, he shared content from several other accounts, including a fake account pretending to be his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. While it’s unclear whether Trump paid attention to who crafted the post, we’re officially living in an era in which the president uses fake accounts as sources of information.
The questionable Karoline Leavitt-inspired posts came from a user with the handle @WHLeavitt and a screen name of “Fan Karoline Leavitt,” though the “fan” part was spelled out using emojis and stylized fonts. The account is labeled as a “parody” account and previously shared a post asking its followers to rate Leavitt’s “backside,” Meidas News reported.
Trump shared more than one post from this fake account.
According to Meidas News, the fake account is based in Taiwan. But on Christmas Eve, Trump shared one of its posts about alleged 2020 election fraud. Then, on Christmas Day, he was at it again. Trump shared a large number of posts that day, including another one from the same parody account.
The post from the fake Leavitt read, “BREAKING: Rep. Comer reveals 75% of Somalis in Minnesota are on WELFARE. ‘The early numbers I’m getting in on the Somalis in MN is 75% of the Somalis in Minnesota are on full government assistance. That’s FULL WELFARE.'” That same post then included a question: “Deport them all?” The account’s followers were given two options: “absolutely yes,” or no.
In addition to asking its followers to weigh in on what they think of Leavitt’s “backside,” the parody account previously tried to tell its followers that they were inviting “1,776 MAGA supporters” on X to visit the White House, clearly indicating that the account really does try to impersonate Leavitt. Whether Trump himself fell for it remains unclear.
There’s reason to think that Trump doesn’t pay close attention to whose content he’s re-posting.
Previously, he accidentally called for his own impeachment by sharing a post from an account with the screen name “Impeach Trump a 3rd Time!” The account regularly posts anti-Trump content, which Trump did not appear to notice while attempting to bash Democrats.
The credibility of the sources he shares content from also does not appear to matter to him in the slightest. For example, on Christmas Day, he also shared a post by a user named “Trump Girl” who wrote, “The election was STOLEN. President Trump was correct.” Because “Trump Girl” is clearly an objective source on the subject.
