Mackey had run the pro-Trump twitter account @RickyVaughn99. The government claimed his satirical posts joking about “texting to vote” constituted a conspiracy on “social media to spread disinformation relevant to the impending 2016 Presidential Election.” Specifically, the government was concerned that “disinformation spread by these individuals often took the form of ‘memes.’”
Despite living in Florida, Mackey was prosecuted in the Eastern District of New York before two liberal judges and was convicted. He was sentenced to seven months in federal prison on October 18, and ordered to report federal prison on January 8, 2024. He will appeal the case. Reversing this conviction is essential not just to protect his own freedom, but to prevent politically motivated suppression of free speech for all Americans. Mackey was charged under 18 USC 241, known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, which was passed to stop violent deprivations of civil rights in the aftermath of the Civil War. The Biden Justice Department is now using this against other political enemies.
Mackey is appealing this case the U.S. Court of Appeals and Supreme Court, if necessary, on First Amendment–and other–grounds. To help reverse this injustice and ensure that it cannot be used as a precedent to further suppress free speech, please contribute.
Ep. 38 The First Amendment is done. Douglass Mackey is about to go to prison for mocking Hillary Clinton on the internet. We talked to him right before his sentencing. Remember as you watch that this could be you.
TIMESTAMPS:
(3:12) The Hillary Clinton meme
(4:20) Hillary’s… pic.twitter.com/MLwz2SboGr— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) November 9, 2023