Friday, a federal jury in New York convicted 33-year-old Douglass Mackey of the grave offense of “conspiracy against rights.” This conviction means that Mackey is liable for as many as 10 years in federal prison at sentencing. So, what was this “conspiracy against right”? Mackey made a Twitter meme mocking Hillary Clinton and the stupid people who voted for her, among whom undoubtedly included the judge, jury, and prosecutors.
How a Twitter Meme Became a Federal Felony
This is how the fascists heading this persecution of a political opponent describe the offense:
“Mackey has been found guilty by a jury of his peers of attempting to deprive individuals from exercising their sacred right to vote for the candidate of their choice in the 2016 Presidential Election,” stated United States Attorney Peace. “Today’s verdict proves that the defendant’s fraudulent actions crossed a line into criminality and flatly rejects his cynical attempt to use the constitutional right of free speech as a shield for his scheme to subvert the ballot box and suppress the vote.”
In 2016, Mackey established an audience on Twitter with approximately 58,000 followers. A February 2016 analysis by the MIT Media Lab ranked Mackey as the 107th most important influencer of the then-upcoming Presidential Election.
As proven at trial, between September 2016 and November 2016, Mackey conspired with other influential Twitter users and with members of private online groups to use social media platforms, including Twitter, to disseminate fraudulent messages that encouraged supporters of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to “vote” via text message or social media which, in reality, was legally invalid. For example, on November 1, 2016, in or around the same time that Mackey was sending tweets suggesting the importance of limiting “black turnout,” the defendant tweeted an image depicting an African American woman standing in front of an “African Americans for Hillary” sign. The ad stated: “Avoid the Line. Vote from Home,” “Text ‘Hillary’ to 59925,” and “Vote for Hillary and be a part of history.” The fine print at the bottom of the deceptive image stated: “Must be 18 or older to vote. One vote per person. Must be a legal citizen of the United States. Voting by text not available in Guam, Puerto Rico, Alaska or Hawaii. Paid for by Hillary For President 2016.” The tweet included the typed hashtag “#ImWithHer,” a slogan frequently used by Hillary Clinton. On or about and before Election Day 2016, at least 4,900 unique telephone numbers texted “Hillary” or some derivative to the 59925 text number, which had been used in multiple deceptive campaign images tweeted by Mackey and his co-conspirators.
Several hours after tweeting the first image, Mackey tweeted an image depicting a woman seated at a conference room typing a message on her cell phone. This deceptive image was written in Spanish and mimicked a font used by the Clinton campaign in authentic ads. The image also included a copy of the Clinton campaign’s logo and the “ImWithHer” hashtag.
The Elements of the Crime
What was missing from the evidence was that a single person who texted the number of the meme was deceived into not voting. Probably because the meme was sent under Mackey’s online profile, “Ricky Vaughan,” which had this avatar:
No person, sane or insane, could’ve mistaken the message or the messenger as anything other than a joke.
One also can’t help but notice that Mackey was arrested only a week after Joe Biden was inaugurated. I’m sure the two events aren’t related in any way, but it sure looks suspicious. The four years that elapsed between the “crime” and the arrest shows that people within the Department of Justice were just waiting for Donald Trump to leave office to start evening scores.
Both Hands on the Scales of Justice
Not only was this a clown car prosecution, but a hate group Southern Poverty Law Center freelancer, Luke O’Brien contacted an expert witness for the defense, University of Alabama professor George Hawley, and pointedly asked him if his employer knew he was testifying for Mackey.
While the article by freelance journalist Luke O’Brien has yet to be published, Mackey’s attorney, Andrew Frisch, claimed it “unfairly disparages” Hawley and is partially based on the professor’s “private emails.”
“Mr. O’Brien waited until the start of trial to submit written questions to Professor Hawley in an apparent attempt to paint him as an extremist, including questions based on private emails which Mr. O’Brien obtained, simultaneously asking Professor Hawley if his employer, the University of Alabama, is aware of his proffered testimony at Mr. Mackey’s trial,” Frisch wrote in a letter requesting to delay the trial by at least 14 days.
In response to the unpublished SPLC report, Frisch told U.S. District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis that Hawley has requested to withdraw his name as a witness.
All That Counts in Our Legal System Is Your Politics
As Mackey was being tried, a prominent Democrat did exactly the same thing and suffered no consequences.
Douglass Mackey was convicted for posting a joke meme about Hillary Clinton. He is facing ten years in prison. Kristina Wong @mskristinawong posted the same joke meme about Donald Trump. She is running for office and is facing no time in prison. Why the different treatment?… pic.twitter.com/2xYRdOeo1j
— @amuse (@amuse) March 31, 2023
The prosecution of Mackey for political speech that the Biden regime wants to suppress is just part of a pattern that has long been in evidence. I’m confident that Mackey will eventually prevail, but as this bunch has shown, they are just using the process as the punishment. Even if Mackey doesn’t go to jail, his ability to participate in the political process has been frozen for over two years due to the pending court case. He’s further quarantined now, as his case will be appealed. His defense will run into hundreds of thousands of dollars. Unfortunately, Mackey is not alone. Robert
Reeder, one of the January 6 protesters, may have had his sentence increased because of memes he forwarded.
Case of Robert Reeder–who pleaded guilty to parading in the Capitol in Oct 2021–is one that shook me.
Not just how DOJ ruined his life but how they cited memes as evidence to support 6 months in jail on a petty offense.
DOJ now full-out criminalizing memes#DouglassMackey pic.twitter.com/aow8Hd576N
— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) March 31, 2023
If We Do Nothing, Nothing Changes
We have moved past the point of “equal justice under the law” to one of federal law enforcement, including the courts, being weaponized to punish jokes. The question for the GOP officeholders is what they will do about it. If they are unwilling to go after the careers and property of law enforcement managers, prosecutors, and judges who went along with this crap, they are part of the problem.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member