A White House Staffer Appears to Run Massive Pro-Trump X Account

A popular right-wing account that called a video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes "a masterpiece" appears to be run by a White House staffer, according to records reviewed by WIRED.

Hours after an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis, the Trump administration was already working to shape the narrative. Official White House accounts flooded social media with clips of burning flags and clashes between locals and federal immigration agents, casting protestors—not the killing—as the story.

Among the accounts amplifying that message was Johnny MAGA, a pro-Trump X account with nearly 300,000 followers. “They’re burning the American flag right now in Minneapolis,” the anonymous account claimed, sharing a clip from the White House’s official rapid response feed. “And they really expect you to believe that ICE shot an innocent civilian.”

To its audience, Johnny MAGA looked like an independent voice, another ...