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Trump's Latest Retweet Has Twitter Saying "Of Course He Did"

by John Haltiwanger
NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images

President Donald Trump's Twitter habits have caught people's attention (again). On Monday, Aug. 21, Trump was going on his standard "Fake News" Twitter rant when he retweeted an account under the handle @Aroliso, which thanked him for giving up his "billionaire lifestyle to save America" and agreed with Trump's attacks on the "#FakeNews media."  @Aroliso has apparently been on Twitter since October 2015, but the account's timeline only has tweets dating back to Aug. 18 (three days ago). Also, all of the tweets from @Aroliso are pro-Trump. So, yeah, the president probably just retweeted a bot (fake account) that only says nice things about him. There are many tweets about Trump retweeting this pro-Trump account and they all seem to ask the same general question: Is anyone surprised?

With that said, it's not clear if the president is aware @Aroliso is likely a fake account. But perhaps Trump should take more care in terms of retweeting in the future. The president consistently complains about "FAKE NEWS," which essentially constitutes any news he doesn't like, yet probably just retweeted a fake Twitter account. So, beyond the fact we have a president openly attacking free press, there are multiple reasons why this is embarrassing.

Here's what Trump retweeted.

Twitter
Twitter

Many on Twitter were quick to point out the account is probably fake (and that they aren't surprised Trump would retweet someone who exclusively praises him).

In a way, this provides a lesson for everyone.

Unless an account is verified (has blue check mark), which means Twitter has confirmed the account's identity, it might not be trustworthy. People in the public eye, especially the President of the United States, should be aware of this. Despite sending thousands upon thousands of tweets, Trump either still doesn't understand how Twitter works or is simply so thirsty for praise he's willing to risk retweeting fake accounts. Either way, there's a strong case to be made he should cut back on his social media use.