Netflix’s newest documentary, Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story, has brought the awful serial killers back into the public consciousness.
What many will not know, however, is that the most powerful man in the world, President of the US Donald Trump, was once tricked into retweeting a message of support for the pair by a sneaky Twitter user.
Whilst Trump is now a far more prolific poster on his own social media website, Truth Social, he used to be a frequent poster on Twitter, which is now known as X.
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This even led to the politician reaching a $10 million dollar settlement with the company now owned by Elon Musk after they suspended his account for nearly two years in the wake of the January 6th insurrection.
Years prior, however, a Twitter user was able to convince him to post a picture of Fred and Rose West, leading Trump to threaten to sue them.
They had tweeted at Trump in 2014, who was yet to be president at this point, saying: “My parents who passed away always said you were big inspiration. Can you pls RT for their memory?”
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The picture was not, however, of their parents, it was of the infamous serial killers.
Due to how Twitter used to work as well, the tweet read as coming directly from Trump’s account in an embarrassing gaff.
The orange-tinted politician would later tweet: “I thought I was being I guess this teaches you not to be nice or trusting.”
He later stated that he was considering suing them, saying: “Some jerk fraudulently tweeted that his parents said I was a big inspiration to them + pls RT-out of kindness I retweeted.
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"Maybe I'll sue. I thought I was being nice to somebody re their parents. I guess this teaches you not to be nice or trusting. Sad!"
Beyond reminding people that Trump used to end nearly every tweet with the word ‘Sad!’ the tweet – it harks back to a lawless era of the internet prior to social media managers when this was a far more common occurrence.
The late great boxer George Foreman was one unlucky victim, having been tricked into posting a picture of Raoul Moat by someone who tweeted saying he was his uncle and a big fan of the fighter.
Hulk Hogan, the controversial WWE star, was similarly fooled, with someone @ing him with a picture of Madeleine McCann, cruelly saying she was a big fan and had recently won a hide and seek competition.
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Alan Sugar, the fellow The Apprentice alumnus, was also fooled, being tricked into retweeting a picture of Harold Shipman.
In the case of Trump, however, it does not appear as if the property mogul and President ever sued the trickster.
Topics: Donald Trump, Twitter, Social Media
Michael Slavin