Rep. Brendan Boyle made a sarcastic Twitter ‘endorsement’ for George Santos. Not everyone got the joke.

As U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D, Pa.) is learning the hard way, sarcasm doesn’t always come through well in text form.

On Monday, the local congressman shared a tweet mockingly endorsing George Santos (R., N.Y.), who announced this week that he is running for reelection in 2024.

“I hereby formally endorse George Santos to win the GOP nomination for Congress from his district,” Boyle wrote. “Frankly, I can think of no better representative of the modern day GOP’s stance on honesty and integrity than George Santos.”

Boyle said the post was an effort to take a jab at the multiple investigations surrounding Santos’ deceit and fundraising. But the attempted joke went over the heads of some of his followers.

”At first I actually thought this was serious,” one user responded. “This has to be some sort of a joke,” said another. “Had me in the first half,” one user wrote. “Please say sike,” wrote another.

“Half of the responses are people not getting the joke and half are people getting it and making fun of people not getting it,” Boyle said with a laugh during a phone interview Tuesday. “I do think most people got it, but the response did surprise me ... The whole thing is fairly amusing.”

On Twitter, Boyle’s fake endorsement was viewed nearly 430,000 times within 24 hours. Some shared it with glee and laughing emojis, but others criticized the lawmaker for “switching sides.”

“Looking at it now, the likes are far outpacing the replies, so at least I’ve avoided the dreaded ratio,” the representative said, referring to an infamous Twitter phenomenon where more people reply to a post (typically with a sour response) than like it. Ratioed posts typically reflect a bad or poorly received opinion.

Since his election, Santos has drawn scrutiny for lying about his personal and professional life. His lies have ranged from his religion and how his mother died, to previous employment, education, and fundraising sources. Members of Congress, including Republicans, have called for Santos to step down. But aside from removing himself from committee assignments, Santos appears to be holding firm, especially now that he’s running again.

Boyle said his tweet’s reception was a reminder that jokes in written form don’t always get across, though he thought this one was “fairly obvious.”

“I do like dry humor,” he said. “If you follow me on Twitter, it’s informal — social media has its faults but it’s nice to get a sense of people’s personalities. You can see how much I care about sports or how this isn’t the first time I’ve said something satirical. I think that’s a big positive with social media.”

The congressman added that he’s met constituents and forged friendships through social media, but acknowledges that the digital landscape is always changing.

“It is interesting over the last 15 years how the culture has evolved because of course this [social media] didn’t exist the way it does now,” Boyle, 46, said. “I grew up in an era where the internet didn’t exist. Even though I’m a relatively young member of Congress, I grew up in a different culture than my young daughter who’s nine.”

Ultimately, Boyle said, the tweet — and the response — has become a highlight of his day.

“People have a lot on their mind these days,” he said. “So I’m happy to make them smile.”