Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds uses secret Twitter account to attack Trump and Haley

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds (R) has two official X (formerly Twitter) accounts: Her personal one (@KimReynoldsIA) and her gubernatorial handle (@iagovernor). But a third account has just been discovered, which Reynolds uses almost exclusively to attack Republican presidential candidates.

The New York Times reported Thursday that the account @Kimberl26890376 — which was launched in 2021 and has just a few hundred followers as of this writing — belongs to the Iowa governor. That account, which features a profile picture of Reynolds and her husband Kevin, is populated with tweets both elevating Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and attacking former President Donald Trump and former UN ambassador Nikki Haley. The tweets are rarely from Reynolds herself: Most of the posts on the account are retweets of other accounts, with occasional short commentary from Reynolds.

"The contrast is overwhelming," read one post retweeted by Reynolds that showed two different photos of DeSantis and Trump. On the left side, DeSantis is seen with his wife and children. On the right, Trump is seen smiling next to four women in cocktail dresses at a Mar-a-Lago party.

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Reynolds retweeted another post suggesting corruption was at the root of a new proposed $1.7 billion FBI headquarters in Washington, DC. That tweet — from DeSantis' press secretary — showed a screenshot of an Associated Press article with text highlighted about how one of the leading bidders was from a company with ties to Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Haley is also a frequent target of Reynolds' secret Twitter account. Reynolds retweeted a post from the "DeSantis War Room" account that called the former South Carolina governor "the liberal Democrat who is actively auditioning to be Trump's vice presidential running mate." Reynolds also retweeted an Iowa journalist's post of Nikki Haley flubbing the name of University of Iowa basketball player Caitlin Clark during a campaign event in which she mistakenly called her "Caitlin Collins" (Kaitlan Collins is a CNN reporter).

Gov. Reynolds endorsed DeSantis in November and has remained one of his loudest cheerleaders even as his campaign continues to post underwhelming poll numbers. According to RealClearPolitics' polling average, DeSantis is predicted to finish third in Monday's Iowa caucuses behind Trump and Haley, despite spending tens of millions of dollars in the Hawkeye State. And because of the record-low temperatures predicted in Iowa next week, all of the money DeSantis and other candidates have spent on voter turnout may be in vain, with six to 12 inches of snow on its way this weekend, and a polar vortex expected to bring wind chills of roughly 35 degrees below zero at the time Iowans are scheduled to caucus.

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