What's It Like When Trump Retweets You? Meet the Former Clinton Supporter on the President's Timeline

During a spurt of Twitter activity Sunday that included retweeting a GIF that appeared to show him knocking down Hillary Clinton with a golf ball and referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as "Rocket Man," President Donald Trump retweeted a user with the handle @glamourizes and the display name "lana del fenty."

Trump retweeted a post by the user that said: "Only true Americans can see that president Trump is making America great. He's the only person who can! Haters are jealous of his success." Minutes later, Trump quoted a post by that user that said, "we love and support Trump," and added: "Thank you!"

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The Twitter mentions by the president seemed to come out of nowhere, according to "lana del fenty," who spoke with Newsweek through Twitter. The user gave her name as "Madison" and said she is 19 and attending college in Colorado. She declined to give her last name or say which school she goes to. Her display name is a reference to the singers Lana Del Rey and Rihanna (whose last name is Fenty), and her Twitter avatar features the model Kendall Jenner. Her profile contains a quote from the song "West Coast" by Lana Del Rey: "Down on the West Coast they got a saying." She has a Tumblr account linked to her profile.

"When I saw the notification I thought it was a parody, until I looked fully at the username," Madison says. "Then I realized Donald Trump retweeted me." That realization came with "a lot of emotions," she says. "It just felt too good to be true, mostly."

Newsweek could not independently verify Madison's identity, though she has posted many times about living in Colorado and attending school. The user declined to share information that would help verify her identity, such as an email from an address affiliated with a school or a redacted image of a school identification card.

It's not unusual for celebrities to interact with fans on Twitter. But when that celebrity is the president of the United States, the implications can be greater, according to analysts. In August, Trump came under scrutiny for retweeting the controversial self-described "political operative" Jack Posobiec and an account that appears to be a bot. He also has tweeted controversial memes, such as one showing him appearing to wrestle with CNN and one of him "eclipsing" former President Barack Obama. During his presidential campaign, he posted a meme depicting Hillary Clinton over a pile of money, with the words "most corrupt candidate ever" and what resembled the Jewish Star of David. Trump denied it was a Star of David and deleted the tweet and reposted it with a circle over the star.

In the 24 hours or so since Trump mentioned her, Madison tells Newsweek she has received around 2,000 new followers and lots of mentions, which she describes as "mostly negative. Some tweets are calling me and Trump a dumbass, and others [are] telling me to kill myself. There's others that support me and say things to ignore the haters." She says she has taken that advice: "I don't feel nothing [about negative tweets]. I really don't care, to be honest."

As with others Trump has mentioned on Twitter, not everything Madison has posted would be appropriate for official presidential records. The account contains lots of posts that are sexually explicit or otherwise unpalatable, as Colonel Morris Davis, the former chief prosecutor of the Guantanamo military commissions, has pointed out. "They're jokes," Madison says in response. "Nothing more, nothing less."

Madison has also tweeted negative things about Trump. On election day, she wrote that her followers should vote for Clinton. (Around the time that Newsweek asked her about that tweet, she deleted it.) She has also referred to Trump several times as an "orange Cheeto."

Asked about the Clinton tweet, she says she didn't vote for Clinton but supported the candidate. She has since switched to supporting Trump because she didn't like "the way people were complaining on how Trump wasn't president and making rumors that the election was rigged." Plus, she says, "liberals aren't my type of crowd."

Given Sunday's mentions from Trump, it seems that position will stick. On Monday, she tweeted at the president, "Thank you for quoting and retweeting my tweet yesterday Mr. President! America is always with you 100%."

But asked whether a retweet by Lana Del Rey would beat the one by Trump, Madison responds: "Sure."