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President Donald Trump apparently has a thing for @SexCounseling.
Mr Trump has recently retweeted posts from a California sex therapist, Dawn Michael, whose professional Twitter home is a mix of pro-Trump material and, well, other things.
The three retweets since January are emblematic of the president 's habit of amplifying online praise from random or troublesome corners of the internet. He has been widely criticised for retweeting racially insensitive or allegedly antisemitic material - he denies any such intent. But his willingness to cast the presidential gaze and Twitter finger upon oddball figures and little-known commentators has attracted less notice.
And it also appears to be on the rise. So far in February, Mr Trump's retweets are outpacing his original tweets by about two to one, topping 265 on Wednesday and including commentary from the likes of @HiredGun37 and @heelerhoney alongside Republican lawmakers, right-wing media figures, journalists, his sons and campaign manager.
In the same period a year ago, Mr Trump appears to have included only 21 retweets among 92 Twitter postings, and only one appears to be akin to the puzzling choices or otherwise obscure boosters he now promotes. On 12 February last year, among a string of retweets sent from his iPhone near 10 pm, Mr Trump retweeted a now-deleted link from a now-deleted account called “@planetepics.”
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Created with Sketch.
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Trump styles his 'You're fired!' pose in his Trump Tower office in June 2012. At the time he was known as a reality TV star on The Apprentice
Diane Bondareff/Invision/AP
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He was also well known as the patron of the Miss Universe competition
Getty
3/29
Early signs of Trump's ambition for the presidency can be found everywhere. Not least in his 2011 book 'Time to get tough: Making America #1 again'
Getty
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Trump with Piers Morgan in November 2010. Piers Morgan has long held that he and Trump are good friends
Getty
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Trump appeared on Fox & Friends, his favourite show, in August 2011
Getty
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Trump considered running in the 2012 election, where he would have faced Barack Obama. He is speaking here at an event for a Republican women's group
Getty
7/29
Trump was subject to a Comedy Central roast in 2011. He is pictured here being roasted by rapper Snoop Dogg
Getty
8/29
Given that this Trump store is in the lobby of Trump Tower, it can be said that Trump sells merchandise of himself out of his own home
Getty
9/29
Trump held meetings with prominent Republicans when considering his 2012 bid. He is pictured here with Alaska governor Sarah Palin
Getty
10/29
He didn't end up running in 2012 afterall, instead endorsing Republican candidate Mitt Romney
AFP/Getty
11/29
Trump's golf course in Aberdeen proved controversial in 2012 when he began lobbying the Scottish government against wind power in order that they wouldn't install turbines off the shore by his new course
Getty
12/29
He even gave evidence to a Scottish parliamentary committee discouraging wind energy
AFP/Getty
13/29
He still found time for a round of course
AFP/Getty
14/29
On 16 June 2015, Trump announced that he would run for the presidency of the United States in the 2016 election as a Republican
Getty
15/29
His campaign was divisive, courting controversy wherever he went. Ultimately he was declared the Republican candidate in June 2016
Getty
16/29
Trump took part in the TV debate against opponent Hillary Clinton on 9 October
Getty
17/29
Trump and wife Melania vote in the presidential election on 8 November 2016
AFP/Getty
18/29
Hillary Clinton conceded defeat at 2:50am on 9 November and president-elect Trump swiftly delivered his victory speech to a crowd of supporters
Getty
19/29
News coverage around the world focused on the huge political upset that Trump's victory spelled
AFP/Getty
20/29
Trump met with president Obama to discusss transition planning on 10 November. Obama had fiercely denounced Trump during the election campaign, at one point even swearing that he would not leave the White House if Trump won
AFP/Getty
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Donald Trump and Nigel Farage pose in the golden elevator at Trump Tower on 12 November 2016. Farage was the first British politician to meet with Trump after the election
LeaveEUOffical/Twitter
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The inauguration of Donald Trump took place on 20 January 2017. Trump's press secretary Sean Spicer boasted that the crowd was the 'largest ever' to witness an inauguration, a claim that was proved not to be true
Getty
23/29
In his first 100 days as leader, Trump signed 24 executve orders, the most of any president
AFP/Getty
24/29
One of Trump's most memorable election pledges was to build a wall between the US and Mexico. He is standing here in front of a prototype for a section of the wall
Getty
25/29
Trump's meetings with other world leaders have provided no short supply of photo opportunities
Getty
26/29
Trump was welcomed to the UK by the Queen and a state banquet was held at Buckingham Palace in his honour
Reuters
27/29
Not everyone welcomed the president. Mass protests were held in London throughout his visits in both 2018 and 2019
EPA
28/29
One of the most significant meetings Trump has held with another leader was with North Korea's Kim Jong Un. In June 2019, Trump became the first sitting president to set foot in North Korea
Getty
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2020 will see president Trump fight for a second term in office, who knows what the next decade will bring?
Getty
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Trump styles his 'You're fired!' pose in his Trump Tower office in June 2012. At the time he was known as a reality TV star on The Apprentice
Diane Bondareff/Invision/AP
2/29
He was also well known as the patron of the Miss Universe competition
Getty
3/29
Early signs of Trump's ambition for the presidency can be found everywhere. Not least in his 2011 book 'Time to get tough: Making America #1 again'
Getty
4/29
Trump with Piers Morgan in November 2010. Piers Morgan has long held that he and Trump are good friends
Getty
5/29
Trump appeared on Fox & Friends, his favourite show, in August 2011
Getty
6/29
Trump considered running in the 2012 election, where he would have faced Barack Obama. He is speaking here at an event for a Republican women's group
Getty
7/29
Trump was subject to a Comedy Central roast in 2011. He is pictured here being roasted by rapper Snoop Dogg
Getty
8/29
Given that this Trump store is in the lobby of Trump Tower, it can be said that Trump sells merchandise of himself out of his own home
Getty
9/29
Trump held meetings with prominent Republicans when considering his 2012 bid. He is pictured here with Alaska governor Sarah Palin
Getty
10/29
He didn't end up running in 2012 afterall, instead endorsing Republican candidate Mitt Romney
AFP/Getty
11/29
Trump's golf course in Aberdeen proved controversial in 2012 when he began lobbying the Scottish government against wind power in order that they wouldn't install turbines off the shore by his new course
Getty
12/29
He even gave evidence to a Scottish parliamentary committee discouraging wind energy
AFP/Getty
13/29
He still found time for a round of course
AFP/Getty
14/29
On 16 June 2015, Trump announced that he would run for the presidency of the United States in the 2016 election as a Republican
Getty
15/29
His campaign was divisive, courting controversy wherever he went. Ultimately he was declared the Republican candidate in June 2016
Getty
16/29
Trump took part in the TV debate against opponent Hillary Clinton on 9 October
Getty
17/29
Trump and wife Melania vote in the presidential election on 8 November 2016
AFP/Getty
18/29
Hillary Clinton conceded defeat at 2:50am on 9 November and president-elect Trump swiftly delivered his victory speech to a crowd of supporters
Getty
19/29
News coverage around the world focused on the huge political upset that Trump's victory spelled
AFP/Getty
20/29
Trump met with president Obama to discusss transition planning on 10 November. Obama had fiercely denounced Trump during the election campaign, at one point even swearing that he would not leave the White House if Trump won
AFP/Getty
21/29
Donald Trump and Nigel Farage pose in the golden elevator at Trump Tower on 12 November 2016. Farage was the first British politician to meet with Trump after the election
LeaveEUOffical/Twitter
22/29
The inauguration of Donald Trump took place on 20 January 2017. Trump's press secretary Sean Spicer boasted that the crowd was the 'largest ever' to witness an inauguration, a claim that was proved not to be true
Getty
23/29
In his first 100 days as leader, Trump signed 24 executve orders, the most of any president
AFP/Getty
24/29
One of Trump's most memorable election pledges was to build a wall between the US and Mexico. He is standing here in front of a prototype for a section of the wall
Getty
25/29
Trump's meetings with other world leaders have provided no short supply of photo opportunities
Getty
26/29
Trump was welcomed to the UK by the Queen and a state banquet was held at Buckingham Palace in his honour
Reuters
27/29
Not everyone welcomed the president. Mass protests were held in London throughout his visits in both 2018 and 2019
EPA
28/29
One of the most significant meetings Trump has held with another leader was with North Korea's Kim Jong Un. In June 2019, Trump became the first sitting president to set foot in North Korea
Getty
29/29
2020 will see president Trump fight for a second term in office, who knows what the next decade will bring?
Getty
On Monday, he blasted out the assessment from @SexCounseling that “The people are happy with president Trump and they see how poorly he is being treated” to @realDonaldTrump's 72.4 million Twitter followers. By Tuesday afternoon, his retweet had itself been retweeted nearly 6,000 times.
It is not clear what attracted Mr Trump to Ms Michael's posts, but she appears among a circle of conservative pro-Trump Twitter users who regularly retweet one another. It is also not clear whether the name of her Twitter account had any bearing on Mr Trump's decision to retweet her.
Ms Michael's account links to her YouTube channel and a video about “Couples Sensual Touching” that might be best described as R-rated.
On her website, “thehappyspouse.com”, Ms Michael calls herself “a nationally recognised relationship expert and certified clinical sexologist”.
“My mission is to help you resolve problems with your intimate life. With 20 years of counselling experience, I have helped thousands of people improve their quality of life and marriage,” Ms Michael says.
She claims advanced degrees or certifications from the Institute for Advanced Studies in Human Sexuality and The American College of Sexologists. Neither are accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA), spokeswoman Kim Mills said. The APA does not police who calls themselves a sex therapist or a “certified sexologist,” as Ms Michael's Linkedin profile identifies her.
Ms Michael did not respond to requests for comment by phone and email.
Early in his presidency, Mr Trump would post tweets but rarely responded or looked to Twitter for information. His staff would periodically bring him reports on how well tweets had done and would show him particularly friendly things to repost, according to a senior administration official who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the president's Twitter use.
But it became “both an entrance and an exit” in 2018, as he would, on his own, dive through his replies to see who was praising him.
An aide said Mr Trump has sometimes been taken aback by backlash to his retweets. Often, a string of retweets is not some grand statement - it's just Mr Trump scrolling and clicking, people close to the president said.
“If he sees it and it's positive about him, he just posts it,” the administration official said. “It would never dawn on him to check and see who the person is.”
He also likes to use retweets to force journalists and critics to reckon with the size of his Twitter following, current and former officials said. For example, after a firefighters union endorsed Joe Biden last year, Mr Trump went on a barrage of early-morning posts, amplifying firefighters who praised him instead.
Mr Trump has mused to aides that he can mix it up on Twitter more than in real life - and “kind of just see how it goes,” a former senior administration official said. And there are accounts he somewhat regularly looks at for retweet potential, aides say.
But Mr Trump has conceded in the past that he was a little too quick to hit the retweet button.
“A lot of the times, the bigger problem is the retweets,” he said last year to C-SPAN television political editor Steve Scully. “You know, you retweet something that sounds good, but it turns out to be from a player that's not the best player in the world. And that sort of causes a problem.”
Mr Trump's taste in retweets is varied. A recent selection of retweets includes the conservative legal group Judicial Watch and American Broadcasting Channel (ABC) News journalist Jon Karl. He has retweeted official Republican accounts alongside @RedPillReport, which posts pro-Trump material and conservative views that are sometimes racially tinged or sexually suggestive.
“Red-Pilling” is a term that comes from the movie “The Matrix” and refers to a choice between a red pill that opens one's eyes to an ugly reality and a blue pill that does not.
@RedPillReport returned the favour on Tuesday, retweeting and commenting upon a Mr Trump insult directed at Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg.
“When a president can make you laugh ... and fatten your 401K ... you know you've got the right man!” the post said.
Mr Trump has sometimes retweeted posts from accounts that were later suspended, or accounts that said they were associated with the Q-Anon conspiracy group.
Dawn Michael is not among the 47 people Mr Trump himself follows on Twitter. Nor are any of the other otherwise little-known people he has retweeted recently. The common denominator is always either expressions of support for Mr Trump or criticism of his adversaries.
Late Tuesday, Mr Trump retweeted and commented upon @IsraelUSAforevr, an account that proudly notes its four presidential retweets at the top of its Twitter biography.
The original tweet endorsed the idea of pardons for convicted Mr Trump associates Michael Flynn and Roger Stone.
“Prosecutorial misconduct?” Mr Trump wrote in response, alongside other tweets complaining that Stone has been unfairly targeted.
Prasad Vana, an assistant professor at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business, has studied online marketing techniques and said that retweeting is marketing of a sort.
“In general the idea is to show that there is some consensus developing around an idea and so it's a way of saying, 'See? It's not just me, it's others who think like that.' That is primarily the intention.”
Often, content that shocks or outrages is the most popular online, professor Vana said. That is not necessarily Trump's intent, but a president retweeting an account called @SexCounseling might raise eyebrows, he said.
“We probably are biased more towards content that agrees with our own opinions, but when you're on a big stage it is rather wise to vet some information before you put it out there,” professor Vana said.
The Washington Post