Rehage, a writer who splits his time between Germany and Central Asia, claims the distinction of having been banned from Chinese social media for his satirical posts about politics there. Now he’s engaging with @realDonaldTrump, whom he disdains.
“I don’t have much to do during the day,” he said. “I’ve kind of figured out the time he gets online to do his tweet thing.” Rehage is typically quick on the trigger when @realDonaldTrump pops up with a new message, and he threads his replies together to form a longer string of messages.” I try not to use any profanity, not insult anybody,” Rehage said. “I try to expose a little bit of Donald Trump’s rhetoric and his way of thinking, the logical fallacies.”
Although Twitter won’t elaborate on whose replies get to appear directly beneath Trump’s tweets, it seems that a combination of Rehage’s speed and his status as a verified user make him highly visible—and therefore a presence to someone such as @TylerDoor. Since he began tweeting at Trump about a month ago, Rehage has gained about 25,000 followers. He views his social media output as fulfilling a moral obligation. “I think being apolitical and not making yourself heard is wrong now,” he said. “When Donald Trump turned into the president, I figured this is something I cannot ignore anymore.”
Jordan Uhl, 29, posts more than a dozen tweets in a day—almost every one about Trump. “He repeatedly said he wants to use Twitter to communicate with the people,” Uhl said of the president. “I’m one of those people. If he wants to talk to Americans via Twitter, Americans are going to talk back.”
Join the conversation as a VIP Member