So Now We Have a Disinformation Czar

I haven’t yet figured out if the official role of this board is to identify and label what it deems “disinformation” - or to promote the Biden Administration’s own disinformation. Probably both.

In last week’s column (Nudge Nudge) I traced the history of how this New Authoritarianism evolved from political correctness, to the Nudge, to cancel culture, and how we are now to the point at which we’re simply being shoved:

We’re no longer being nudged, let alone respected - we’re being shoved.

Up until now, the Democrats were happy to let the mainstream media, academia, large corporations, social media, the government itself and even religious institutions carry their water for them by promoting the Marxist agenda and cancel culture. But what they lacked was an enforcement arm of the government itself to “officially” reinforce the Democrat party line.

They didn’t need that, frankly, what with owning and controlling all the other outlets for information. If your newsfeed is curated by progressive-controlled algorithms, cable “news” is steeped in Democrat talking points, search engines (all of them) hide and demote contrarian views, and social media have banned or labeled as “disinformation” any views that contradict the official Democrat party line, you were (they believed) kept under control. Or at least, so marginalized that they could point to your views as “extreme” and unworthy of merit. What serious idea cannot be researched and sourced in under a minute using Google (or Duck Duck Go, or Bing, or Dogpile, or Startpage, or really any of them)? And Wikipedia has been so thoroughly subjugated to the mind-hive, it’s just straight up propaganda now.

That changed two weeks ago when Musk bought Twitter, promising to make it an uncensored outlet for all views, making their algorithms open-source and getting
”the bots” (fake accounts) under control. Immediately following this news, conservatives on Twitter saw their followers and their followers could see each other - and leftists saw a huge swing in the other direction. In theory, the conservative-suppressing algorithms hadn’t been changed yet, but what else would explain the overnight shift in numbers? Are we to believe tens of thousands of Democrats left the platform and similarly thousands of conservatives returned? I sincerely doubt that - Democrats are all the time vowing to “move to Canada” - they never do. And this platform has been central to their ability to control messaging forever. Why wouldn’t they wait a few weeks and see what really happens?

I don’t think any of us on the right have a full understanding, yet, where this whole New Twitter is going. But to appreciate why this move by Musk poses an existential threat to the Democrats, see Why Musk’s Takeover of Twitter Matters:

So to connect the dots - “the news” is formulated within a closed ecosystem and the government uses that same ecosystem to promote policy positions. Are you starting to see why this damn platform “matters”? Can you understand why your opinion, comfortably residing outside of Twitter, gets marginalized or is never even considered in national policy?

And right on cue, the Biden Administration announces it’s forming a Truth Ministry, within the Department of Homeland Security, literally a week to the day after Musk’s takeover of Twitter. If you hadn’t foreseen this, or something like it, you should have!

Now, the timing of all this is certainly conspicuous, but I spent 30 years in our federal government (albeit in the Army) and I can assure you nothing moves this fast, most especially not in the national security apparatus. No, this move was being planned for months. Possibly longer.

The Democrats, it would seem, are having a problem with the Hispanic vote. Democrats firmly believe that demographics equal destiny That’s why they have been steadfast in keeping our border open and flooding our nation with immigrants. But what if these immigrants aren’t going to vote the right way? That’s a real problem!

But another steadfast plank in Democrat hive-think is that people don’t formulate negative opinions of Democrat policies based on facts, they do so because of the messaging. Specifically, misinformation - or wrongthink. And in the case of Hispanics, the “misinformation” is attributed to the growth in popularity of conservative Hispanic radio talk shows that are increasingly conveying a message of liberty, agency and self-reliance - contrary to the Democrat talking points of Hispanic victimhood and racism.

If the Democrats lose the Hispanic vote - and they just spent a year importing two million more of them - well, then this really is an existential threat! And that’s why they’ve been working so urgently on forming a Ministry of Truth.

Traditionally, one would expect to find such an entity somewhere within a political party’s electoral apparatus - sort of like opposition research which is bought and paid for by Democrat party contributors. But remember, this is the party that uses the whole federal apparatus to conduct opposition research on Republicans - does it openly, all the time. No Hatch Act restrictions apply - not if you believe “democracy” is itself literally at stake! If the FBI and DOJ willingly supported spurious investigations of Trump, which it knew to be Clinton campaign misinformation, why not set up a government agency whose whole purpose is to promote Democrat talking points and label anything to the contrary as disinformation?

Now you can search the federal budget if you like, you won’t find an authorization or appropriation (it takes both) for a Disinformation Governance Board within DHS. They don’t exist. But the Democrats don’t need authorizations or appropriations: they just willed the board into existence. And to show just how naked this aggression is, one need look no further than who’s been appointed to lead this board.

Right out of Stalinist central casting is one Nina Jankowicz - a nasty and vicious opponent of the First Amendment: “Platforms and governments aren’t doing enough.” It’s time to act. Our national security and democracy are at stake.” And by “democracy” she means, as all Democrats do, central control of all public policy and information by her party.

I haven’t yet figured out if the official role of this board is to identify and label what it deems “disinformation” - or to promote the Biden Administration’s own disinformation. Probably both.

And while the original intent of the DGB may have been to counter conservative Hispanic talk radio - well, now the announcement truly is conspicuous. Like any blunt implement wielded by the Democrats, whatever its original intent, it will be used as an official (backed by guns) source of government control to cudgel conservative speech. Why else put it in DHS? If Twitter won’t censor itself, the DGB will design to censor Twitter. This will give all the Blue Checks on Twitter a new tool to combat their enemies - a DGB logo to slap on any disagreeable content. “Why the government itself said this is disinformation!” What are you gonna do about that conservatives?

Make no mistake, this “board” is no Final Solution, it’s just the next logical step in keeping Democrats from having to face an informed electorate in an honest election. We conservatives won’t be hiding out in someone’s basement from the Karenwaffe. At least not yet anyway. But it is a particularly bold step, one which we’d have assumed would have been cloaked under a much less Orwellian name.

Perhaps they’re slipping. Or perhaps they don’t give a damn anymore.