Army of Trump trolls runs online campaign with flood of hateful posts: report

Matthew Chapman
December 13, 2023 

Scott Olson/Getty Images

An army of internet trolls is going to war for former President Donald Trump with the latest artificial intelligence tools, reportedThe New York Times on Wednesday — and many of their top targets are women and minorities.

"Cheered on by Mr. Trump, the group traffics freely in misinformation, artificial intelligence and digital forgeries known as deepfakes. Its memes are riddled with racist stereotypes, demeaning tropes about L.G.B.T.Q. people and broad scatological humor," reported Ken Bensinger.

In particular, they go after women who are rivals or critics of Trump — for example, "In one video, the former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley’s face is pasted on the body of a nearly naked woman, who kicks a man with the face of Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida in the groin.

"Another depicts Casey DeSantis, the governor’s wife, as a porn star. Women with ties to Mr. DeSantis are often shown with red knees, suggesting they have performed a sex act."

Racist tropes are also peppered throughout the group's work — for instance, after Trump was indicted on racketeering charges in Georgia by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is Black, "Several team members produced a music video targeting" her, reported Bensinger.

"A Kanye West parody, it used artificial intelligence to mimic Mr. Trump’s voice rapping lyrics that were peppered with racist dog whistles."

The group has also played an outsized role in the online mockery of DeSantis, who has been relentlessly targeted by their memes. They claim credit for helping to take the rumor DeSantis wears lifts in his boots mainstream.

The leader of the group, which calls itself Trump's "Online War Machine," is a Georgia-based podcaster and life coach named Brenden Dilley. And while they operate independently of the Trump campaign, several close Trump allies and officials, including Donald Trump Jr., and campaign officials Steven Cheung and Dan Scavino, routinely share their content.

Dilley says that in addition, he has been showered with gifts from Trump, including dozens of signed MAGA hats, which can routinely resell for thousands of dollars, and a large number of VIP tickets to Trump's rally in Hialeah, Florida.