Meet Michigan House member Matt Maddock. He’s a Republican who bought into the fiction that a gurgling bucket of Twinkie filling and circus peanut goo couldn’t have possibly lost to that nice man with the infectious smile and conspicuous lack of boat parades. He also thinks fact checkers need to be brought to heel. Because if there’s one thing the disordered unraveling of longstanding democratic norms can’t abide, it’s the checking of facts.
Feelings about facts aside, Republicans love the First Amendment. Just ask them. Unfortunately, they don't understand what it is or what it does. On that score, it’s kind of like falling in love with a president who’s actually a chaos agent sent by the Kremlin. That’s a completely hypothetical scenario, of course. Nothing like that would ever happen in America. We’d be the laughingstock of the universe.
Republicans think the First Amendment allows them to write or say anything they want without facing consequences from anyone. Unfortunately, the terms of service (ToS) for major social media platforms—like Twitter and Facebook—don’t say “write or say whatever you want.” They have rules. Just like I can’t go to church and secretly replace the communion wafers with Corn Nuts and the sacramental wine with Folgers Crystals. I could do those things, but they’d likely excommunicate me at last, after all these years of personally lobbying the Vatican MySpace page.
Of course, there are oodles of things Republicans don’t understand these days. Like how elections work. No, one of the candidates can’t just declare that he won after he actually lost by more than 7 million votes. And people are not obliged to believe him, which is, of course, where Maddock comes in.
From The Detroit News:
A Michigan lawmaker who's been at the center of efforts to question the 2020 election introduced a bill Tuesday that would require "fact checkers" to register with the state.
Rep. Matt Maddock, R-Milford, wrote the legislation, which was co-sponsored by eight other Republican House members, about five months after Maddock floated the idea of licensing fact checkers on Twitter.
Now, normally I’d say this crosses a line that few other Republicans would ever dare cross, but look around you. They just ousted one of the few GOPsters who still hews to consensus reality. Her unforgivable sin? Fact checking the growing legion of GOP liars.
Maddock’s Fact Checker Registration Act (the very name sounds ominous) describes a fact checker as someone who publishes any material—including online material—in Michigan, is a member of the International Fact-Checking Network, and receives payment from a fact-checking organization. I guess Tucker Carlson can still use his highly rated cable show to baselessly assert that vaccines are suspect; since he’s not being paid by an organization that checks facts (like, ever), it’s just fine.
The bill also requires fact checkers to provide proof of a $1 million fidelity bond with the Michigan secretary of state’s office. This provision would allow an “affected person” to assert a claim for “any wrongful conduct that is a violation of the laws of this state.” In addition, fact checkers who violate the registry terms could be fined up to $1,000 per day.
In a recent Facebook post, Maddock tried to explain his absurd overreach: "Social media companies de-platform people, politicians, and businesses on the basis of 'fact checkers' who relish their roles punishing those whom they deem 'false' … Many believe this enormous economic and social power is being abused … My legislation will put fact checkers on notice: Don't be wrong, don't be sloppy, and you better be right.”
Okay, I know what you’re thinking. You can already sue people for libel if they defame you. If, for instance, I wrote that Donald Trump lost the election because his STDs are competing to see which one can goad him into biting a dingo’s head off at a rally (for the record, I am not asserting this, but many people are saying it), he could probably sue me. But I welcome the discovery process.
Of course, not everyone is on board with this.
The nation’s founders established protections for the press so it can operate without government intrusion, said Sen. Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield, who studied journalism at Michigan State University.
“This is an affront to the First Amendment,” Moss said of the proposal.
No duh.
By the way (don’t be too shocked now), Maddock is a full-bore MAGA “Stop the Steal” Republican. Also known as a “Republican.”
He first broached this fact checker registry idea in a December tweet that also advocated for the burning of all Dominion voting machines. Maddock also was among a coterie of Republicans who attempted to enter the Michigan Capitol on Dec. 14 to cast electoral votes for Donald Trump, in a state Trump lost. Because why the fuck not?
Oh, and he was at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Because of course he was.
Again, normally I’d think, “Well, this guy is nuts, and no one is going to listen to him.” But insanity is increasingly a prerequisite for membership in today’s Republican Party.
Despite GOP majorities in both houses of Michigan’s state legislature (and the state Senate majority leader being a Jan. 6 denier), I doubt this bill will pass. It’s just too un-American. Then again, it could—and that’s about as frightening as it gets.
At least we know Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer won’t sign it into law.
It made comedian Sarah Silverman say “THIS IS FUCKING BRILLIANT” and prompted author Stephen King to shout “Pulitzer Prize!!!” (on Twitter, that is). What is it? The viral letter that launched four hilarious Trump-trolling books. Get them all, including the finale, Goodbye, Asshat: 101 Farewell Letters to Donald Trump, at this link. Just $12.96 for the pack of 4! Or if you prefer a test drive, you can download the epilogue to Goodbye, Asshat for the low, low price of FREE.