Despite President Donald Trump's frequent use of racist dog whistles and veiled calls to violence, the Trump campaign frequently claims the President fully supports marginalized groups, such as Black Americans and LGBTQ Americans.
Nevertheless, it's looking more and more like one of Trump's supporters on Twitter tried to shore up Trump's support among marginalized people himself...by pretending to be one.
Dean Browning was the commissioner of Lehigh County commissioner in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania, who describes himself as:
"A proud pro-life & pro-2A Christian conservative dedicated to enacting common sense solutions to Keep America Great."
On Tuesday afternoon, Browning sent this tweet.
One of his critics disagreed.
That's when Browning sent this questionable—and since deleted—tweet.
Browning wrote:
"I'm a black gay guy and I can personally say that Obama did nothing for me, my life only changed a little bit and it was for the worse. Everything is so much better under Trump though. I feel respected - which I never do when democrats are involved."
Browning is neither gay nor Black, which led people to think Browning was posing as a gay Black Trump supporter on another account, which he forgot to switch to before replying to the critic.
Browning claimed that he was quoting what someone messaged him privately, despite the absence of quotation marks.
But soon, Washington Post reporter Philip Bump found a Twitter account under the name "Dan Purdy," who frequently says similar things in Browning's replies.
Twitter soon began roasting Browning.
Then, an even stranger development happened.
Browning retweeted a video from Purdy's account, in which a man identifying himself as Purdy came to Browning's defense.
The man claiming to be Purdy said:
"The message that you saw on Dean's Twitter was posted—I don't actually know how it was posted—but I did send it to him because i had a problem with how people of my race and sexual persuasion were treating Donald Trump."
Some people weren't convinced.
The saga still wasn't over.
The man claiming to be Purdy was soon identified as William Byl Holte, a self-described anti-feminist tv critic, landscaper, and, apparently, the nephew of legendary musician Patti LaBelle.
The saga is still ongoing.
