PRESIDENT-ELECT OF the United States Donald Trump sure loves Twitter. In fact, you could say that loves Twitter a little too much.
Despite @realdonaldtrump having over 15.6 million followers, he follows just 41 people.
That breakdown is as follows:
- 13 journalists/media accounts
- 10 of his own businesses
- 7 relatives (wife, children, daughters-in-law)
- 4 employees of the Trump campaign (past and present)
- 2 Trump surrogates
- 1 vice-president elect
- 1 WWE, Inc. CEO
- 1 golfer
- 1 television producer
- 1 star of Touched By An Angel
Hang on, Touched by an Angel? The 90s television show?
The one and only.
Who does he follow?
He follows Irish actress Roma Downey, better known as Monica from Touched by an Angel. The Golden Globe-nominated actress hails from Co. Derry and performed with the Abbey Players in Dublin before making it big in America.
This year, she received the Irish Diaspora Award at the IFTAs. There she is now.
Okay, but why does… Donald Trump follow her?
It might have something to do with her husband. Downey is married to Mark Burnett, a television and movie producer. Over the years, the pair have produced Christian films and television shows like Ben-Hur, The Bible and Son of God. They recently announced plans to launch a “24-hour faith and family entertainment network” called Light TV.
Burnett is also a high-flying reality television producer and has created shows like Survivor, Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader and, most importantly, The Apprentice. Burnett worked with Donald Trump on The Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice between 2004 and 2015.
During the recent presidential election, Burnett and his company came under pressure to release Trump-related footage following the leak of the Access Hollywood tapes, but he refused to play ball.
So does Roma Downey support Donald Trump?
Not quite. In fact, Mark Burnett released a statement during the campaign saying that neither he nor Downey supported Trump’s campaign.
I am not now and have never been a supporter of Donald Trump’s candidacy. I am NOT ‘Pro-Trump.’ Further, my wife (actress Roma Downey) and I reject the hatred, division and misogyny that has been a very unfortunate part of his campaign.
Fairly definitive.
But they were definitely pals in the past. Here’s Roma Downey reaching out to see if they will bump into each other at Fox & Friends.
And here she is thanking Donald for plugging her movie, Son of God.
But she seems to have stayed mum during Trmp’s campaign.
Back in February, she asked CNN whether Donald Trump was calling Ted Cruz a “choke artist or a joke artist,” which was either a genuine query or a sly dig at Trump’s poor diction.
A choke artist or a joke artist? That is the question.
In fact, this Twitter interaction would suggest that Downey was as sick of the election as the rest of us.
Nevertheless, she remains the only actress that Trump follows on Twitter.
Quite the honour, huh?
Sure, isn’t she the pride of Northern Ireland?
Let’s just hope she doesn’t get any DMs from him, eh?
For her sake.
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