This Trump supporter tried to impersonate members of the Trump family and the president fell for it

A few weeks ago – as Donald Trump is wont to do – the president retweeted a story about a family member standing up for him.

The story, posted on a conservative website, was initially titled, "Trump's Sister Issues Rare and Bold Statement on 2020 Election and Proves How Much She Believes in Her Brother," and Trump responded, “Thank you Elizabeth, LOVE!”.

Turns out, the “story” was actually based on a parody account impersonating his sister Elizabeth Trump Grau. (The headline was later changed to: “Social Media User Pretending to be Trump’s ‘Sister’ Issues Statement on 2020 Election”. )

The parody account in question, @TheBettyTrump was later suspended from Twitter.

So who was behind this account that tricked the president into believing it was his sister?

Josh Hall, a 21-year-old food delivery driver from Pennsylvania and a fervent Trump supporter, recently told New York Times that he was actually behind a number of accounts impersonating members of the Trump family.

When Trump retweeted the article, Hall told the Times: “I was like, 'Oh, my goodness. He actually thinks it's his sister’.”

Hall also apparently made accounts impersonating the president’s brother Robert Trump, his son Barron, and White House coronavirus chief Dr Deborah Birx – with the fake accounts amassing more than 160,000 followers between them.

According to the Times, Hall also used the accounts to promote a fabricated group, “Gay Voices for Trump”, raising more than $7,300 via GoFundMe – before it was recently shut down.

The 21-year-old later said: “I didn’t end up ever really doing anything with the Gay Voices for Trump,” and he claimed to have “never got the funds from it”. 

(A spokesperson for GoFundMe told the newspaper the money had been withdrawn by the organiser from an account listed Josh H.)

“There was no nefarious intention behind it," Hall said. “I was just trying to rally up MAGA supporters and have fun.”

Looks like the president should be a bit more careful about the “news” he engages with.