White House Staffer Linked to Major Pro-Trump X Account
A White House staffer spreads pro-Trump content on X while remaining anonymous, raising ethical concerns.
One X account called Johnny MAGA, with 300,000 followers, shared videos from the White House. This account looks like it belongs to a Trump supporter but researchers say it is run by a White House worker named Garrett Wade.
Garrett Wade works as a rapid response manager for the Trump administration. He helps run the same White House account that his Johnny MAGA account promotes. WADE works for the White House but runs an account that looks like independent support for Trump.
The account started in 2021 and has posted about Trump since 2022. News sites have shared posts from Johnny MAGA as if they show real public opinion.
Experts say this is a problem because people deserve to know who is trying to shape their views. Samuel Woolley from the University of Pittsburgh says this lacks transparency and breaks public trust.
This shows how hard it can be to tell government messages from regular people’s opinions when the government hides behind fake accounts. Public records connect Wade to Pennsylvania, and his phone number matches the Johnny MAGA account.