sarah huckabee sanders
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders read a letter from a 9-year-old Trump fan, but Twitter was not impressed Mark Wilson/Getty Images

As President Donald Trump's approval ratings drop to some of the lowest levels in US history, the White House turned to fan mail from a nine-year-old to praise his embattled presidency. During her first press briefing as White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders read aloud a letter from Dylan, also known as "Pickle", who wrote to tell Trump that he was his "favourite president".

"To remind us a little bit more often about some of the forgotten men, women, and children that we're here to serve and that the president is fighting for, we're going to start the White House briefing every once in awhile with a letter or an email that we may receive from some of those individuals," Sanders said.

The letter, dated 1 June, read: "My name is Dylan, but everybody calls me 'Pickle.' I'm 9 years old and you're my favourite president. I like you so much I had a birthday about you. My cake was the shape of your hat.

"How old are you? How big is the White House? How much money do you have? I don't know why people don't like you. You seem nice. Can we be friends? My picture is in here, so if you see me, you can say hi."

Sanders provided answers to the boy's questions as she read the letter aloud and told reporters that if he was ever in Washington, she hoped that he would drop by for a tour of the White House. The mysterious boy's last name was redacted by the White House.

"I'm happy to say that I directly spoke to the president, Dylan, and he would be more than happy to be your friend," Sanders said.

Twitter, on the other hand, was not as convinced by the letter with many questioning whether Dylan even exists. While many immediately branded the "suspiciously Trumped-up letter" letter as "plain propaganda", others decided to take a more humorous route and drafted their own versions of letters to Trump.

"Huh. @realDonaldTrump has better penmanship than I thought!" one Twitter user wrote. Another person wrote:

One person tweeted: "Whether or not the Dylan/Pickle letter is real (if it is, kid is way behind the curve), using the briefing for propaganda is terrifying."