In an elaborate April Fool’s Day prank, Joshua Trevino, co-founder of RedState and vice president of communications at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, duped hundreds of followers into believing that he was leaving the GOP to join the Texas Democrats.
However, less than an hour into the stunt, Trevino told The Daily Caller that it was indeed a ruse. Trevino received multiple tweets from angry Republicans accusing him of betraying the party, as well as some messages from Democrats, who welcomed him with arms wide open.
CNN Express’ Josh Rubin even fell for the gag and tweeted his followers, informing them of Travino’s move.
Eventually, Trevino put an end to the antics. At roughly 5 p.m. on Sunday, Trevino posted on Twitter: “I am a native-born Texas Republican, and I’ll die one, and I look forward to casting my protest vote for @GovernorPerry next month.”
One of his co-conspirators, Harold Cook, told TheDC on Sunday that the joke was simply meant to “mess with people’s heads.” There was no real underlying political message associated with the prank, he explained.
“The day a bipartisan group of folks can’t get together and mess with peoples’ heads on April fools day, the terrorists win,” Cook joked in a message to TheDC.
Trevino has a reputation of being untrustworthy on April 1. Last year on April Fool’s Day, TheDC’s Matt Lewis reported that Trevino announced he would be taking over Bob Herbert’s New York Times column. Many fell for his fake announcement, sending the political social media world into a tailspin.