A golf obsessed dad-of-three has been inundated with abusive Tweets after hundreds of trolls world-wide confused him with Trump’s right-hand-man.
Scottish HGV driver Stephen Bannon, who lives on quiet residential road in Swindon with his wife and three daughters, only uses Twitter to keep up with golf.
But Steve, who shares a name with Trump’s chief strategist – Stephen ‘Steve’ Bannon – has been getting hundreds of misdirected abusive Tweets.
The Scottish dad now receives up to 60 Tweets an hour some of which call him racist, an extremist and a Nazi.
His Twitter handle is @SteveBannon – while the US politician’s is @StephenBannon.
British Steve, 46, said the American politician has even contacted him and asked to swap Twitter handles.
The dad-of-three , who grew up in East Kilbride, near Glasgow, said: “At first I thought it was just a bit of fun but now it’s overwhelming.
“It’s totally baffled me how this thing has exploded.
“I have a family here and I didn’t want to do anything to put them in danger so I have always been polite. I am just sort of going along with them.”
Steve first started being mistaken for former Breitbart News boss Stephen Bannon in 2010, receiving the the odd Tweet
But when American Bannon, 63, was appointed Trump’s campaign manager in August he began getting more and more notifications on Twitter.
He said: “All of a sudden I looked at my Twitter and I had about 20 notifications which is a lot for me.”
It was during the election in November that the Tweets really started flooding in.
He said: “I was getting about 40 Tweets a day. Some of them were abusive and that’s when I started replying to them.”
Now, since Steve Bannon was appointed Trump’s chief strategist and given a seat on the US’s National Security Council, Steve has been getting 60 Tweets an hour.
Bannon is disliked by many Americans who blame him for Trump’s contested immigration and abortion policies.
But the abuse is not limited to the politician’s political views.
Steve said: “The guy is quite scruffy and unkempt and people make reference to his weight and the way he looks.”
He replies to the Tweets with humorous memes and advice to users that they’ve got the wrong guy
His Twitter bio now reads: “Proud Scot living in England. Happily married with 3 lovely daughters. Nothing to do with US politics or running the White House etc.”
Trump’s right-hand-man has now reached out to UK Steve and requested the two swap Twitter accounts.
Steve said: “The other Steve Bannon got hold of me and asked if would give him my Twitter handle.
“I feel as I have as much right to the handle as he has and I am not going to be bullied out of it.
“I don’t know if I will continue to use Twitter. I am tempted to log out, I am undecided.”
But if anything he says he has earned some “cool dad points” from all the media attention.
