There’s a lot going on so it’s easy to overlook much of the news today, but this is a big deal:
DOJ
[Douglass Mackey, aka Ricky Vaughn, 3] was arrested this morning on charges of conspiring with others in advance of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election to use various social media platforms to disseminate misinformation designed to deprive individuals of their constitutional right to vote.
As alleged in the complaint, between September 2016 and November 2016, in the lead up to the Nov. 8, 2016, U.S. Presidential Election, Mackey conspired with others to use social media platforms, including Twitter, to disseminate fraudulent messages designed to encourage supporters of one of the presidential candidates (the “Candidate”) to “vote” via text message or social media, a legally invalid method of voting.
Yes, you read that right. Not the 2020 election. 2016 y’all.
Mackey’s name may not ring a bell but he was a prominent influencer in 2016. How prominent?
A February 2016 analysis by the MIT Media Lab ranked Mackey as the 107th most important influencer of the then-upcoming Election, ranking his account above outlets and individuals such as NBC News (#114), Stephen Colbert (#119) and Newt Gingrich (#141).
No small fry. Of course most of us were too busy being overwhelmed by the tsunami of misinformation, disinformation, and media hackery to take note of some these players.
Worst of all though is who Mackey targeted and the impact it had:
For example, on Nov. 1, 2016, Mackey allegedly tweeted an image that featured an African American woman standing in front of an “African Americans for [the Candidate]” sign. The image included the following text: “Avoid the Line. Vote from Home.
That’s right. African-American voters. This piece of excrement targeted *thousands* of African American voters with false information to suppress turnout. And he knew EXACTLY where to target.
From the complaint: “In the final weeks before the Election, MACKEY stated his opinion that the outcome of the election would be affected by voter turnout [...] “Obviously we can win Pennsylvania. The key is to drive up turnout with non-college whites, and limit black turnout.”
Huh. Just days before the 2016 election he was confident Trump could win Pennsylvania as long as black turnout was suppressed.
This brings me back to one of viewpoints I’ve held since the 2016 election that white folks just refuse to let go of: that as much of an ass as he may be, Comey was not the decisive factor in Trump’s win. Obama intelligence officials have been on record multiple times about that election and consistently point to social media/Russia as the determining factor. Even Trump’s campaign openly credited Facebook as winning the election for them.
Recently The Guardian reported about the ‘Deterrence’ campaign that targeted 3.5 MILLION African Americans specifically to suppress turnout.
In Michigan, a state that Trump won by 10,000 votes, 15% of voters are black. But they represented 33% of the special deterrence category in the secret database, meaning black voters were apparently disproportionately targeted by anti-Clinton ads.
In fact, here’s a reminder from an interview with Parscale, Bannon and Co. from October 2016:
Bloomberg 2016
Instead of expanding the electorate, Bannon and his team are trying to shrink it. “We have three major voter suppression operations under way,” says a senior official. They’re aimed at three groups Clinton needs to win overwhelmingly: idealistic white liberals, young women, and African Americans.
Enter scum like Douglas Mackey. It was all right there in front of our faces. When it comes to 2016 I’ll stick with intelligence officials not pundits and databros, thanks.
Most importantly, though, this is a clear message that with Biden and Kamala in office, 2016 will NOT be swept under the rug. So buckle up.
Elections have consequences.