Kokomo man caught up in Twitter rumors spread by Florida's Rebekah Jones

Jul. 5—On April 8, a well-known former Florida data scientist Rebekah Jones accused a Kokomo man in a tweet of being a cyber terrorist and paid operative who was utilizing an anonymous Twitter account to attack critics of presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Jones alleged Robert Andrew McGimpsey, of Kokomo, of being behind Twitter account @MaxNordau, working with Christina Pushaw, DeSantis' rapid response director of his presidential campaign, and leaking "selectively edited footage" of Jones' son hours after he was arrested for allegedly threatening to shoot up a school.

The tweet has been viewed over 2 million times.

It's not the first time Jones has accused McGimpsey. She's also accused him of being a white nationalist, Christian nationalist and serial stalker. In one tweet, Jones claimed @MaxNordau has tweeted about her more than 150,000 times.

Almost daily, the @MaxNordau account tweets directly at her, usually in comment sections, or about her. Whoever is behind the account is a prolific Twitter user, tweeting numerous times per hour. The account has amassed over 230,000 tweets since it was created in 2012.

However, there is no clear evidence McGimpsey is behind the @MaxNordau account, but that hasn't stopped Jones and others from peddling the claim ad nauseum.

And the story only gets stranger.

'A random dude in Kokomo'

The earliest attempt to link McGimpsey to @MaxNordau happened in early August 2022 in a Substack written by Steven Jarvis, a Texas special education teacher who writes about disinformation in his free time.

Jarvis cited a Twitter thread from 2020 where McGimpsey announced he had returned to Twitter following a suspension. A separate Twitter user tagged @MaxNordau, stating the account had also been suspended.

The conversation continued for a few more tweets.

Jarvis used this as the crux of his claim in his Substack post that McGimpsey and @MaxNordau are the same person, posting other tweets from McGimpsey's personal account, as well as photos and his LinkedIn account.

Substack is an online platform that supplies a publishing platform for free or paid newsletters.

McGimpsey, who ran for Kokomo School Board in 2022, told the Tribune accusations started last August, which aligns with the date of Jarvis' post — Aug. 7, 2022. Jarvis wrote more posts accusing McGimpsey of being the owner of the account that month.

McGimpsey said he didn't realize he had interacted with the account when accusations first arose and @MaxNordau reached out via direct message (DM).

"It was so innocuous and small," McGimpsey said. "When he DM'd me, I didn't even know who he was."

McGimpsey denied being behind the account.

A few weeks after Jarvis published his first post about McGimpsey being @MaxNordau, Jones took to TikTok repeating the allegations, calling McGimpsey "a white supremacist from Kokomo, Indiana."

McGimpsey's personal Twitter account is rife with right-wing conspiracy theories and culture war issues. The same can be said of the @MaxNordau account, however there are some key differences.

McGimpsey appears to be an ardent Donald Trump supporter, based on his posts. @MaxNordau tweets frequently in support of DeSantis.

McGimpsey's Twitter bio indicates that he is Christian. @MaxNordau's bio reads "Muscular Jew." The account's namesake, Max Nordau, was a real person and Zionist leader. Zionism is the support of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, known as the Land of Israel in Jewish writings.

McGimpsey said he tried to file a police report locally about the allegations but was told there was nothing that could be done.

The Tribune also spoke to @MaxNordau during a phone interview. The Twitter user did not disclose his identity but denied being McGimpsey. McGimpsey and @MaxNordau did not sound the same on the phone.

"She totally made it up," @MaxNordau said. "(He) is just a random dude in Kokomo."

Despite the high rate of tweeting done by the @MaxNordau account, the user said they are the only one who operates the account. The account did not tweet for the duration of the 30-minute phone interview with the Tribune.

Though the claims against him haven't subsided, McGimpsey said the impact has been minimal except for his father getting doxed and the occasional "hate-filled messages."

Doxing is the practice of digging up private information and releasing it publicly, usually for malicious purposes.

McGimpsey said people tried to dox him, but he and his father have the same name.

The Kokomo man hasn't tweeted from his personal account since November 2020. He said tends to get sucked in online and tries to stay away from it.

Credibility concerns

The credibility of Jarvis and Jones has come into question numerous times.

This is especially true of Jarvis, who has drawn the ire of many in the disinformation field on Twitter.

Jarvis appears to have a history of publishing — and repeating — dubious claims about people. McGimpsey is but one of many who have been on the receiving end of claims accusing them of being people they are not.

Mike Rothschild is one of them.

A journalist and author of "The Storm is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult, and Conspiracy Theory of Everything," Rothschild's name appears many times in Jarvis Substack posts.

Rothschild said Jarvis has accused him of working for Mike Flynn, the former Trump national security adviser and now conspiracy theorist, and working for Russia. Rothschild is one of a few Twitter users who have been accused of working for Flynn.

"Jarvis spends his days making up conspiracy theories about many of the people who professionally cover conspiracy theories," Rothschild said in an email. "He bases this on willful misinterpretation of social media, his own personal beliefs and taking the grudges of other people in his circle and making them his own."

Rothschild also said Jarvis accused him of being a Nazi and child pornographer.

Twitter user @conspirator0 is another one who is a frequent target of Jarvis.

@conspirator0 is a data journalist and disinformation researcher. They said they consider the content Jarvis writes to be false and abusive.

The Twitter user is mentioned in more than 500 Jarvis Substack posts, according to information provided to the Tribune.

Rothschild appears in more than 280 posts. Jarvis had written about @MaxNordau 129 times, as of June 10.

As for Jones, the former Florida data scientist routinely makes headlines.

Jones went viral in 2020 when she alleged Florida was doctoring its COVID-19 numbers. She filed a whistleblower complaint after being fired from the Florida Department of Health. A state inspector general found no evidence of wrongdoing by the health department.

Jones took a plea deal earlier this year in a case where she was charged with accessing a state computer system without permission. She was charged after state law enforcement raided her home, which made national news.

Her son was arrested in April for allegedly threatening to shoot up a school. The @MaxNordau account posted videos related to the arrest but those appear to have been originally posted by Jones.

McGimpsey said the accusations against him seem to flare up when Jones makes the news.

Hearing voices

McGimpsey and @MaxNordau interacted a handful of times following the accusations, usually with the Kokomo man responding to one of the account's tweets. The two appeared in a Twitter Space together, according to @MaxNordau, where they discussed Jones' claims against them.

"We were both laughing about it," @MaxNordau said.

A Twitter Space is a live audio broadcast, hosted on the website, where people can listen and join in on a conversation.

However, it's @MaxNordau's involvement in Twitter Spaces, that led Jarvis to believe the account and McGimpsey are one in the same.

Jarvis said McGimpsey's voice, which he found in a video the Kokomo man posted to Twitter about masks in 2020, matched the voice of @MaxNordau on Twitter Spaces.

"That was the point, 'Oh my gosh, that sounds just like him,'" Jarvis told the Tribune.

Jarvis and Jones haven't only accused McGimpsey of running an account dedicated to amplifying pro-DeSantis content and tweeting at and about the Florida woman. They also claim McGimpsey and the account are paid by DeSantis' team to do so.

Specifically, Jarvis said McGimpsey is working for Christina Pushaw, the rapid response director for the Republican presidential candidate. She was also his governor press secretary before moving to her current position.

Pushaw is a popular Twitter user in right-wing circles, using the platform to promote DeSantis and criticize media. She is credited with mainstreaming the term "groomer" as a way to attack those who discuss sexuality and gender with children.

Jarvis bases his claim around the fact that the @MaxNordau account has interacted with Pushaw on Twitter and the two accounts, plus a few others, often pop up in the same comment threads and discussions.

"It's all very consistent," he said.

Asked if there is a paper trail, proving McGimpsey or @MaxNordau are compensated, Jarvis said, "That's one of the few things they hid pretty well."

The (alleged) people behind @MaxNordau

The story took a turn Wednesday when Laura Loomer, a right-wing internet personality with a history of anti-Muslim statements, accused Bryan Griffin, press secretary for DeSantis' presidential campaign, of being @MaxNordau.

Loomer posted a video to Twitter comparing the voices of Griffin and @MaxNordau, alleging they are the same. While the voices might sound similar, it does not appear they are the same person. The user behind the account denied being Griffin.

Jones ran with the tweet from Loomer, alleging four people are using the account, including McGimpsey and Griffin.

Loomer is a controversial figure. A Trump supporter and former Republican candidate for Congress, Loomer has openly supported a white ethnostate.

The ordeal further casts doubt on Jones' credibility — and the claims against McGimpsey — especially considering she's accused multiple others of operating the account.

Further digging on Twitter reveals Jones' quarrel with @MaxNordau dates back at least a couple years.

Jones has accused or suggested at least seven others could be running the account, including a school communications director, a cop and Pushaw.

@MaxNordau denied being any of these people.

Spencer Durham can be reached at 765-454-8598, by email at spencer.durham@kokomotribune.com or on Twitter at @Durham_KT.