Gullible 2016 Candidates Who Got Punked

Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker was met with two noticeably enthusiastic college-age fans at a campaign stop in a New Hampshire pizza shop on Monday. If that sounds a bit suspicious to you, then you are a very astute observer. It turns out that the two "fans" tricked Scott Walker into taking a satirical photo criticizing the candidate's close ties with Charles and David Koch, who have a history of donating to conservative and libertarian causes. The Walker photo, which has now been immortalized on social media, is a pretty clever prank, but it's far from the first time a politician was punked.

When Walker made the rounds at Theo's Pizza Restaurant in New Hampshire on Monday, he came across two 20-somethings practically jumping for joy over meeting the Wisconsin governor. The man, 23-year-old Tyler McFarland, held a sign that supported Walker for president, while 20-year-old Giselle Hart simply feigned excitement. When Walker agreed to take a photo with the two, McFarland flipped his sign around to reveal a homemade check made out to Walker from the Koch brothers in the amount of $900 million. In the "For" line? "Presidency."

The photo is a comment on Walker's history of taking donations from the billionaire oil tycoons, who have outright endorsed the governor, according to The New York Times, and who plan to spend $889 million leading up to the 2016 elections in order to aid conservative causes and candidates like Walker. Hence, the $900 million prank check.

It was a pretty smooth move on McFarland and Hart's end, but they're not the only ones who have pulled fast ones on politicians. Here are four times the 2016 candidates got punked.

Donald Trump Was Duped By A Harvard Newspaper

In July, Donald Trump got caught in the middle of a feud between Harvard's rival newspapers, The Harvard Crimson and The Harvard Lampoon. The latter pulled off a major coup when it was able to steal the Crimson's prized president's chair and stage a photo with Trump sitting in it. Along with the photo, the Lampoon then published a report of the Crimson's endorsement of Trump, which, of course, was fake. When the prank was revealed, every party involved had a good laugh ... except for Trump, who released this statement through his spokesperson:

The students who perpetrated this are fraudsters and liars, but frankly it was a waste of only a few minutes. Mr. Trump attended the great Wharton School of Finance, a school that has more important things to do.

A sense of humor — ever heard of it, Trump?

Marco Rubio Was Punked By His Own Dad

In the late '70s, when Marco Rubio was but a doe-eyed boy of 8, his father used to call home and pretend to be Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula, urging the kid to wear his leg braces so he could get stronger and one day play in the NFL. After Rubio shared the anecdote last year, ESPN's Tony Kornheiser said that Rubio's inability to tell his own father's voice apart from Shula's "automatically disqualifies Marco Rubio from being president."

Jeb Bush Had To Settle For A Lesser Domain

In February, when Jeb Bush was still getting things in order for his upcoming campaign announcement, he was hoping to purchase the domain JebBushForPresident.com only to find that it had already been taken, and the owners were not willing to sell. CJ Phillips and Charlie Rainwater, a gay Portland couple who self-describe as "bears," purchased the site in 2013 in protest of the Bush family's position on gay rights. Their goal in snatching up the domain was not purely to agitate Bush — though it probably did do that — but also to use it to raise awareness for LGBT issues. What did Bush settle on? JebBushEmails.com. Good work, guys.

Frank Underwood Prank Calls Hillary Clinton

OK, so this might not count as a real prank, seeing as how the prankster is a fictional character and Hillary was in on it, but it's brilliant nonetheless. Last August, the Clinton Foundation asked Kevin Spacey to film a video for Bill's 68th birthday. In the video, Spacey plays his House of Cards character attempting to impersonate Bill as he prank calls Hillary. During the phone call, he tries to get Hillary to reveal what she got Bill for his birthday, and she hilariously replies, "I told you, this is a very personal decision that I will make when I’m ready."