Meet the most influential Donald Trump fan in the US
Unknown North Carolina businessman posts 270 pro-Trump messages on social media every day
A year ago no one knew who Bill Mitchell was, yet this small businessman from North Carolina has become the most influential non-journalist or politician in this year’s presidential election in the US, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab.
Mitchell is now the most famous follower of Republican candidate Donald Trump thanks to his popular Twitter profile, where he supports the real estate mogul’s conspiracy theories, insults and general distrust of the American electoral process.
A year ago Mitchell only had about 100 followers on Twitter: now he can boast of 111,000 readers hanging on his every hashtag.
The businessman has leveraged his large following into a radio show. With tweets such as “A poll is a hypothesis,” and: “Rallies and social media presence are empirical evidence,” he suggests – as Trump himself often does – that the number of people at town hall meetings is the real proof of the magnate’s popularity, and not the opinion surveys, in which his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, continues to lead.
Mitchell is also keen to spread the conspiracy theories the GOP contender has promoted.
“Trump will win unless the Clinton campaign tries to provoke election fraud,” he wrote.
The frenzy caused by this conspiracy reached its height during the third presidential debate when Trump refused to say whether he will accept the results of the election in November.
Mitchell writes 270 tweets on average every day in support the Republican candidate, whom he has compared to Jesus Christ. At a dinner hosted by powerful Catholic leaders last week, Trump himself joked that he, just like Jesus Christ, had worked as a carpenter when he was young.
English version by Dyane Jean François.
