Alt-Right Celebrity @Ricky_Vaughn99 Suspended From Twitter
It just makes complete sense that this racist demagogue emerged from the Ron Paul fever swamp.
The pseudonymous account, created in January 2014, boasted around 62,000 followers and 221,000 tweets. It was identified in February by MIT’s Lab for Social Machines as the 107th most powerful influencer in the 2016 election. That’s higher than a stable of political figures and news outlets including @nbcnews and @nytpolitics.
Screenshot of a @Rick_Vaughn99 tweet celebrating the growing visibility of white nationalist and neo-Nazi publications, all part of the nebulous “Alt-Right” movement.
@Ricky_Vaughn99 openly embraced hate group leaders early and often –– all while maintaining an appeal among mainstream conservatives.
He appeared on Richard Spencer’s Radix Podcast on January 30. At the time of his appearance, the account had 13,000 followers. The two discussed Trump and the unique power of Twitter to spread their ideas. @Ricky_Vaughn99 also described his political evolution online, one that resembles many of the Alt-Right’s adherents:
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