Thread by @MollyMcKew

Today POTUS retweeted 59 accounts that replied to a Bongino tweet about Biden/firefighters in order to prove he (POTUS) has support from firefighters.

Sad showing.

Let's look at those "followers" being promoted by the President. There are some interesting bio clusters: /1

First, those identifying as firefighters or retired firefighters (11 total).

Would be great if a journalist tracked any of these down -- a couple seem real.

Firefighters1 /2

Firefighters2 /3

Firefighters3 /4

Second, a group identifying as veterans/military related who are not also firefighters (4) /5

Third, the only accounts (4) with +1k following, which have biographies that look like constructs designed to check boxes, and which look like the sit in followback/amplification groupings: /6

This one has lower following but same same idea: /7

Fourth, cars as avatars (plus bonus NASCAR mention): /8

Fifth, team photos as banners/avatars (but not firefighters)

Teams1 /9

Teams2 /10

Sixth, there's always the crypto guys /11

Seventh, nature. /12

Eighth, ladies with photos and geolocation /13

Ninth, "people's republic of" /14

Absent those, you have these -- many have single digit/low teens followers /15

There are other clusters of identifiers /16

"southern"
Israel/Jewish + related mentions
"Real estate"
"Lover" of things, especially animals
God

My point here being -- many of the far right Twitter clowns with huge following and which the president regularly retweets and which populate Fox News prime time are backed by nothing but air.

But they play it well like there's a movement. /X

Oh, and the people who make fake accounts get lazy and repeat avatars, banners, and bios -- and emojis. After awhile, they stand out when they operate them together. /X-1

Addendum on fun sub-drama. POTUS originally retweeted an account that was "Lana Del Fenty" (I deleted the indiv screenshots but here's the clip from the collective).

As soon as POTUS RTed it, the account changed its name to "F*** Donald Trump" and added a Bernie avatar /PS1

Turns out the "real" Lana del Fenty was previously RTed by POTUS and gained following, and then someone spoofed the name and handle and started tweeting at POTUS to get RTed. Interesting tactic and use of clones. /PS2

And yes, I get up too early. Thanks. /PS3

And when reading this thread, please keep in mind that last week POTUS met the Twitter CEO and clearly thought all 60M of his followers were real people. No seriously. /PS4

This keeps getting funnier. /PS5