In the News

Patricia Sullivan

Northern Virginia congressman Gerald E. Connolly (D) saw The Washington Post’s story Tuesday about President Trump’s fake Time magazine cover on display throughout his businesses and thought he’d have “a little fun,” his communications director said.

Connolly’s staff quickly created his own mock Time cover and posted it to Twitter, and the five-term congressman tweeted: “Wow, my first cover of Time. Asked my staff to frame this and hang it in all four of my offices.”

In addition to the full-size photo of Connolly, the cover shows lines that mimic Trump’s linguistic style. “Connolly is winning so much he’s tired of winning!” “FITARA is a legislative smash!”

FITARA is a bill that Connolly, 67, co-sponsored with U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) that modernizes the government’s information technology.

As of 9 a.m. Wednesday, the tweet had 16,000 likes, 4,500 retweets and 573 replies, including some from other members of Congress, said Connolly’s communications director Jamie Smith.

“We’re surprised by how viral it went,” Smith said. “The response was overwhelmingly positive, by far the best tweet we’ve had.”

It’s not known (yet) how the fake Trump cover was created, but Smith said his staff didn’t rely on any fancy online tools.

“We did it with Microsoft software we have here in the office. We’re pretty old-school,” he said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/rep-gerry-connolly-wins-the-internet-with-his-own-mock-time-cover/2017/06/28/81f50896-5c09-11e7-a9f6-7c3296387341_story.html?utm_term=.459f09f1a998