Much of the initial reporting on Facebook’s decision to impose a definite length to its block on Donald Trump buried the lede. If you actually read the press release announcing Facebook’s decision, it’s actually a permanent ban, with no requests for reinstatement to even be considered until 2023. The statement makes clear that Trump will only be allowed back on Facebook if “the risk to public safety has receded.” If it turns out that Trump still poses “a serious risk to public safety,” the ban will be reset, and Trump won’t be allowed back “until that risk has receded.” When I read that, I felt comfortable declaring victory on my petition calling for Trump to be permanently banned.
It cannot be stated enough—Facebook has publicly declared a former president of the United States to be a threat to public safety. Well, earlier today, Trump did a bang-up job of proving why that assessment was bang on. He sat down with Stuart Varney of Fox Business and claimed—with a straight face—that Facebook had helped the radical socialist Democrat mob steal the election for Joe Biden.
No, this isn’t snark. Aaron Rupar of Vox got a clip.
Trump claimed that Mark Zuckerberg and friends rolled out “$500 million worth of phony lockboxes” stuffed with Biden votes. In some cases, according to Trump’s bizarre narrative, some 96% of the ballots in these lockboxes were for Biden.
Watch the whole thing here. At around the 18:35 mark, Varney asks Trump why he thinks he was deplatformed, prompting Trump to go on his rant about lockboxes. And Varney just sat there and let him spew this baloney. Indeed, after Trump ranted about how Facebook and Twitter had more or less neutered free speech in this country, Varney just asked him what could be done about it.
This is the very same kind of rhetoric that Trump’s acolytes used to smear Smartmatic and Dominion—which in turn led to employees of those companies to face vicious harassment and trolling, and contributed to the tinder that led to the Jan. 6 insurrection. That, ladies and gentlemen, is why Fox News and other right-wing outlets are facing billion-dollar lawsuits. Apparently neither Trump nor Varney got the memo—or, perhaps, they don’t think that memo applies to The Messiah, Lord Donald Trump, The Most Merciful.
Almost as disgraceful is how Varney just sat there and let Trump rant. Some of you may not recall, but Varney was a legitimate business journalist at one time. He was one of CNN’s most prominent personalities for over 20 years, then went to CNBC from 2001 until joining Fox in 2004. It is simply beyond belief that Varney didn’t end the interview, or at least demand extraordinary evidence for his extraordinary claim. In a sane world, this would be a firing offense.
Watching this made me wonder if Trump actually wants Zuckerberg and others at Facebook harassed and trolled in the same manner. After what we saw in the two months from the time the major networks declared Biden president-elect until the insurrection, this prospect can’t be dismissed as hyperbole. This, ladies and gentlemen, is why so many judges have kept the covfefe drinkers who stormed the Capitol behind bars without bail. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why Facebook was right to declare Trump a threat to public safety.