CINCINNATI (Nexstar) — President Donald Trump apparently does not want to pay you $12 to hold up a MAGA sign at his next Ohio campaign rally.
An image of what looks like a Craigslist job posting seeking Trump supporters was tweeted by Rex Chapman, a popular former NBA player, over the weekend. Within hours, the message had been re-tweeted more than 17,000 times. The image of a Cincinnati posting suggests the Trump Campaign is looking to hire seat-fillers for three upcoming events.
“Trump 2020 signs will be supplied,” reads the image in the tweet. “$2 more per hour if you are wearing a pro Trump shirt.”
Many quickly called out the post as a fake, and an inquiry from Nexstar’s NewsNation team received a brief, blunt response from the Trump campaign.
“This is fake,” said Ken Farnaso, a deputy national press secretary for Trump’s reelection campaign.
A similar set of Craigslist postings circulated ahead of Trump’s June rally in Tulsa. At that time, ads seeking both Trump supporters and anti-Trump protesters were debunked by fact-checkers as fake.
Online misinformation has become a raging issue in the election system. Fact-checkers just can’t keep pace with the tweets and posts seeking to demonstrate the shortcomings of the candidates.
In addition to homegrown falsehoods, U.S. intelligence officials say multiple foreign governments are actively working to sway our elections through misinformation.
For those hoping to avoid getting duped, FactCheck.org offers an eight-step process for spotting fake news.