Few Americans were more patriotic on Twitter than the user known as @TEN_GOP. For almost two years, it lauded President Donald Trump, praised the American military, promoted Brexit and the European far right, and interacted with dozens of leading conservatives, while attacking Trump’s election rival Hillary Clinton, liberals, Muslims and the mainstream media.

Tweet from far-right American commentator Jack Posobiec, now deleted. (Source: BuzzFeed)

@TEN_GOP was a heavyweight voice on the American far right. It had over 130,000 followers; it was retweeted by some of Trump’s aides. When it was suspended, in July 2017, voices across the American far right protested.

To some observers, it seemed too good to be true; in October, they were proven right. Twitter confirmed that @TEN_GOP was a fake, run by a Russian operative connected to the notorious “troll factory” in St. Petersburg.

Tweet from @AltCyberCommand, showing how @TEN_GOP used a Russian backup number (+7 country code), credited to @PropOrNot. (Source: Twitter)

What was the secret of its success? @TEN_GOP’s tweets were deleted when Twitter suspended it, but a number of archives remain. The largest consists of a file of over 3,000 tweets dating back to December 20, 2016, shared with @DFRLab by PropOrNot, a team dedicated to tracking Russian propaganda, which identified the account as Russian at that date.

Others can be found online through services such as tweetsave.com (archived here); still others were shared by supporters on Reddit and a selection of blogs. Google searches also return the shadow of the deleted tweets, although the links are now broken.

Based on these sources, @DFRLab has pieced together the story of how @TEN_GOP fooled so many people for so long.

Un-American patriot

@TEN_GOP masqueraded as an American patriot. To preserve that disguise, it regularly posted “character” tweets, including blessing the U.S. military at Christmas...

@TEN_GOP message, December 25, 2016. (Source: blog.goo.ne.jn.)

Share of a tweet from @TEN_GOP, itself sharing a Christmas post from Vice President-elect Mike Pence, remembering the American troops abroad. (Source: Pinterest.)

… and at other times of the year.

Tweet from @TEN_GOP, May 30, 2017. (Source: blog.goo.ne.jp)

Other tweets were simply sentimental. This post, for example, praised U.S. policemen for bringing a lost toddler home.

Archived tweet from @TEN_GOP, saved in August 2017. (Source: archive.is)

This one flaunted its patriotic leanings with a comment on the flag.

Tweet from @TEN_GOP, May 30, 2017. (Source: blog.goo.ne.jp.)

The account even announced, proudly, and (one would hope) falsely, that it had voted for Trump.

Post by @TEN_GOP, saved to Pinterest. (Source: Pinterest.nz)

Such tweets served to both Americanize and humanize the account, making it appear less like the information operation run from an office building in St. Petersburg, which it truly was.

Uncivil war

In a sign of its working methods, however, even these sentiments were quickly transformed into venomous political attacks.

Tweet by @TEN_GOP, shared to Reddit. Note the “America first” label, added by the user, showing how effectively the account wore a patriot mask. (Source: /r/the_donald)

Americans were @TEN_GOP’s favorite targets, above all Hillary Clinton, who, as many analysts have documented, was the main butt of Russia’s propaganda throughout 2016.

Tweet from @TEN_GOP on June 18, 2016. (Source: Tweetsave.com)

Its posts were overtly political, and included anti-Clinton ads launched by American campaigns. These were also widely shared by genuine American outlets, showing how @TEN_GOP was working to integrate itself into the anti-Clinton information space.