Last week, it was revealed that Donald Trump may have called a reporter for People in 1991, pretending to be his own spokesman. Trump denied the accusation on Friday, but the reporter said that Trump called her back two weeks after the 1991 interview and admitted it was really him. She said he apologized and said it was a joke, and People ran a story about his apology. The alleged Trump behavior lends credence to something I’ve wondered about for a while now.

An anonymous Twitter account, Concerned Citizen @NationalCrier, has been promoting Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and attacking his opponents and enemies. The anonymous account is easily overlooked, having only eight followers at the time of this writing, but it tweets notably precise, up-to-date information about the Trump campaign, and some of the tweets might be damaging if openly connected to Trump. One, for instance, asks which “fictional story we believe in most? #christian #islam #jewish #hindu #muslim #mormon.”

Is Trump’s social media director, Dan Scavino, behind it? Maybe even Trump himself? Just someone who likes to sound like the Trump campaign? Let’s do a bit of sleuthing, weighing the pros and cons and possibilities.

The Scavino Scenario

What’s the evidence Scavino is involved? Scavino, according to Mediaite,  may have previously set up 456 fake Twitter accounts for Trump. Veteran Republican digital strategist Patrick Ruffini sent out a series of tweets with his observations about these Twitter accounts:

People with 0 Twitter followers seem very interested in filing complaints against Ted Cruz. 465 Twitter users collectively urged people to complain to the FCC about Cruz robocalls. These “users” have collectively generated 1.786M tweets over the last 30 days. These 465 accounts generated 411K tweets about Trump over the last 30 days.

Ruffini hinted that Scavino was behind the fake accounts, noting, “This group also collectively retweeted @DanScavino 13,000 times.” Mediaite notes this isn’t the first time fake sounding Twitter accounts have popped up to support Trump. In February, numerous Hispanic Twitter accounts appeared out of nowhere which all tweeted the same thing, “Trump won around 40% of the latino vote in Nevada, but that accounts for about 1,300 votes. Still, more than the two hispanics on the ballot.”

Whoever was tweeting from the anonymous account Thursday night did not sound like Trump; he, she or they had a wordier, less pointed style. Additionally, Trump was busy earlier in the evening holding a rally in California.The tweets Thursday night were also different from ones over the last week or so.  Whoever was tweeting omitted a lot of apostrophes — something Scavino tends to do in tweets at his own Twitter account.

Trump also has a new media director, Justin McConney, but he tweets so little that seems less likely he is behind the account.

Similarities to Trump’s Tweeting

Several of the tweets at @NationalCrier have the feel of being written either by Trump or by someone good at imitating him. Those tweets include the following tell-tale characteristics:

• Short, sarcastic clever lines
• Uses the word “fail” frequently
• References to “beta males”
• The account is following the official North Korea Twitter account, which it sarcastically criticizes. Trump takes a similar approach to mocking North Korea.

This, of course, is far from decisive since Trump has inspired many imitators. All the same, scan through the Twitter account and let me know in the Comments section below what you think — Trump or not Trump.

Other Evidence the Account May Be Connected to the Trump Campaign

• The account is only following nine accounts at the time of this writing, including Trump, his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, and Chris Christie, who has endorsed Trump.
• The account has aggressively gone after Michelle Fields in the last couple of weeks, the former Breitbart reporter who had a run-in with Lewandowski when she was walking close to Trump. The account tweets things about her that the Trump campaign would receive heat for saying publicly.
• The tweets reflect someone with considerable knowledge of the Trump campaign, including Trump’s positions on day-to-day issues.
• Some of the criticisms of the Black Lives Matter movement could be perceived as racist due to how the tweets are phrased. For example, “Cuckservative” images were tweeted, which have been denounced as racist, not just by Democrats, but by conservative Republicans like David French writing for National Review. This provides a motivation for keeping the account anonymous.

One thing that may point away from Trump: The anonymous account has a two-year history of frequently criticizing the Black Lives Matter movement. Although Trump apparently dislikes BLM because they disrupt his rallies, he has never seemed to be particularly fixated on black activism. Did someone else start the account, perhaps someone who Trump later hired? Or again, is it just an admirer/imitator, perhaps someone on the periphery of the campaign (say, a spouse or friend of someone in the inner circle) with knowledge of day-to-day campaign planning? Or was it someone who opposed BLM who then became a hired gun for Trump?

However, if it was just a devoted supporter, why would they only follow nine people and have only eight followers? Only the most savvy social media pros know how to get a message out with practically zero followers.

If there is a connection to the campaign, the campaign might be wise to get the account shut down. Some of the tweets that might play well with a certain type of Trump supporter would play decidedly less well with general election swing voters.

 

Below is just a sample of tweets from the anonymous account (profanity censored). There are many more tweets like this, going back to when the account was first started. I’ve grouped them into the three categories: 1) Tweets that sound like Trump; 2) Tweets that reveal close knowledge of the Trump campaign; 3) Tweets that sound like Trump’s social media director; and 4) Tweets that a large block of voters might find particularly offensive.

1. Tweets that Sound Like Trump

https://twitter.com/NationalCrier/status/725802992130125824

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https://twitter.com/NationalCrier/status/725148105365147648

https://twitter.com/NationalCrier/status/724716668975349760

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https://twitter.com/NationalCrier/status/726826304876617728

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2. Tweets That Reveal Extensive, Up-to-Date Knowledge and Close Tracking of the Trump Campaign

Editor’s note: Former Speaker of the House John Boehner came out praising Trump and criticizing Cruz on April 27th, the day before this tweet. Trump frequently refers to Cruz being funded by Goldman Sachs (his wife works there) and beginning in March, multiple news articles came out revealing the extent left-wing billionaire George Soros has gone to in order to support Hillary Clinton and defeat Trump.  

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https://twitter.com/NationalCrier/status/725015151594881025

Editor’s note: As previously mentioned, Trump appears to really dislike Dunham and publicly criticizes her. Note this is specifically directed toward the next primary election, which even your average political activist might not put together. Note the omitted apostrophe, which Trump’s social media director frequently does. 

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https://twitter.com/NationalCrier/status/724999914799820800

Editor’s note: Have you ever heard this story about one of Trump’s competitors? This is pretty obscure, yet this account found it and pounced on it.

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https://twitter.com/NationalCrier/status/724837776751996929

Editor’s note: Just a few days earlier, a North Korean official criticized Trump.

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https://twitter.com/NationalCrier/status/724717387107307520

Editor’s note: Mitt Romney attacked Trump in March, then criticized him again on CNN, a few days before this tweet.

4. Tweets from April 28, Which Sound More Like Trump’s Social Media Director

https://twitter.com/NationalCrier/status/531867486690344960

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@Mutinium_ this account doesn’t look for followers. It exists so I can speak my mind and not risk my $312,000/yr income. Peasant


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https://twitter.com/NationalCrier/status/531500454270619648

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