One of the most prominent pro-Trump social media accounts is being secretly run by a Trump White House staffer—who used it to call a racist video of the Obamas “a masterpiece.”
The @johnnymaga X account poses to its 380,000 followers as a grassroots, right-wing account. But it has actually been run by a White House staffer this entire time, according to a new report from WIRED.
Garrett Wade, a 27-year-old community college graduate who earns $74,500 per year managing the Trump administration’s rapid response social media accounts, has also been running Johnny MAGA on the side.
Wade’s phone number is the number associated with the Johnny MAGA account, WIRED reported. The account additionally used to have a different handle previously, which included Wade’s birth year.
The Johnny MAGA account has never disclosed that it is being run by someone currently working at the Trump White House.
Wade, through this burner account, has amplified many of the administration’s positions, including posting support for Trump’s Truth Social posts and the administration’s hardline immigration policies. The account also attacks the president’s perceived political enemies and his least favorite Democrats, like California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
His account also frequently flatters the Trump family.
Wade, through the account, also called Trump’s racist Truth Social post depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes, a “masterpiece.”
Despite originally defending Trump for posting the video, the White House later claimed a rogue staffer posted the video. Trump refused to apologize.
Wade himself has a limited online profile, save for his anonymous johnnymaga account.
According to files reviewed by WIRED, however, he previously worked for Opinion Architects, a digital consultancy group, which received more than $325,000 from Make American Great Again Inc. for “research” and “communications” consulting.
Wade was also paid tens of thousands of dollars while on the Republican National Committee’s payroll, according to Federal Election Commission records.
He is married to Allison Schuster, a 26-year-old who also works at the White House as a press assistant. The couple were married earlier this month after a three-month engagement, according to her Instagram, and posed for photos on Capitol Hill.
She has reposted dozens of tweets from her husband’s anonymous account, including retweeting a post from her husband’s account fawning over her boss, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
In another post, she tags her husband’s anonymous account on an image she posted of the White House Press Briefing Room, but makes no mention of the fact that the account was run by her partner.
While the couple was engaged, she also reposted one tweet from a user questioning why people were not following her husband, while again making no mention that the account is run by her partner and co-worker.
The Daily Beast reached out to Wade, Schuster, and the White House for comment.
Wade went to high school in Newtown, Pennsylvania, and then to community college in Bucks County, where he played basketball. He has gone to significant lengths to avoid having any online presence, while his wife recently made her Instagram profile private.
The johnnymaga account has been promoted by many personalities in the MAGA universe, including President Trump himself, raising ethical concerns.
“People have a right to know who is trying to manipulate public opinion, and they have a right to know whether or not they’re experiencing astroturf politics,” Samuel Woolley, a University of Pittsburgh professor who studies disinformation and media ethics, told WIRED. “This lack of transparency and the conflict of interest surrounding this account and the lack of disclosure all amount to a breach of public trust.”
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