A Belgian hacker redirected links on some of President Donald Trump’s old tweets to a music video satirizing his ties to Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
In one hijacked tweet from April 2012, which remains active, Trump is promoting his appearance at the National Achievers Congress event. However, the original hyperlink leading to the NAC’s website now leads to a YouTube video titled “Trump’s Russian Congress.”
I'll be speaking tomorrow at the San Jose Convention Center (CA) for the first- ever National Achievers Congress http://t.co/m4JN2oIw
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 11, 2012
The individual behind the video and the extraordinarily simple hack goes by the name Inti De Ceukelaire, a Belgian who days after the inauguration simply purchased the nac2012.com domain and redirected it to his comedy music video. Since then, the hacker has purchased three other expired domains linked to somewhere within Trump’s 34,400-tweet history in planning further shenanigans.
The European’s motive, however, is not protest as much as revenge for a throwaway presidential campaign trail comment from Trump that the Belgian capital, Brussels, was a “hellhole.”
“I believe in democracy and even though I don’t agree with Trump, I accept the election results,” Inti De Ceukelaire said, speaking to the Verge.
“But even the president of the U.S. has no right to insult our capital. That’s why it was time to make a little bit fun of him—just so we’re even.”