Read the Anti-Trump Screeds from Iowa Governor’s Unearthed Secret Twitter Account: ‘Trump Has No Loyalty…’
AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File
A new report on Kim Reynolds shows her political relationship with Donald Trump has deteriorated more than previously known, for the Republican Governor of Iowa kept a secret social media account where she repeatedly trashed the former president.
Trump and Reynolds were once political allies, both endorsing each other during their respective campaigns for re-election. However, their rapport has chilled considerably in recent months, especially when Reynolds endorsed her fellow governor, Ron DeSantis, to be the GOP’s 2024 nominee.
The New York Times has now established a tie between Reynolds and the X (formerly Twitter) account @Kimberl26890376, a separate entity from the governor’s publicly verified @KimReynoldsIA account. The @Kimberl26890376 has a number of clips and posts boosting DeSantis, but also an assortment of posts unflattering to Trump and Nikki Haley as you can see by the examples below:
The contrast is overwhelming… pic.twitter.com/S4C9BjgtEH
— Barbarian Steve (@Redpot86) January 1, 2024
FOLLOW THE MONEY: The Trump-Haley team are approaching $40 million in negative ad spending against Ron DeSantis!
He’s the one their establishment ticket fears. https://t.co/BCbY9JdOUF
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) December 31, 2023
It’s the easiest decision you’ll ever have to make, Iowa. He’s right there. Take him. https://t.co/tNI1qIrWlv
— Todd Erzen (@DeaceOnline) December 30, 2023
Meet the liberal Democrat who is actively auditioning to be Trump’s vice presidential running matepic.twitter.com/aAjNWRvhbb
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) December 22, 2023
From the Times:
Ms. Reynolds’s little-known Twitter account straddles a line somewhere between public and private. It has her photo in the profile picture and lists the user name as “Kimberly Reynolds” (she usually goes by Kim). But it is in no way linked to either her verified political account or her official governor’s one, and it does not identify her as the governor of Iowa. As of Thursday morning, @Kimberl26890376 had 259 followers, a sign of its obscurity, although the following included a number of influential Iowa political operatives.
Ms. Reynolds has had the @Kimberl26890376 account since 2021, according to X, but a majority of her 58 posts have come in recent months and are almost exclusively about the presidential primary. She has used reposts to promote Mr. DeSantis’s media appearances and amplify criticisms of Mr. Trump. In November, for example, she shared a post from another DeSantis supporter who wrote, “Trump has no loyalty but demands it from everyone else. That’s FEALTY. Which makes sense because these people want a king.”
The report notes that Reynold’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
