The Uniparty Swamp Tried To Ruin Douglass Mackey’s Life Over A Meme — And Lost
Though his arrest came just days after Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021, the investigation and groundwork for the case were carried out by Trump appointees.Though his arrest came just days after Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021, the investigation and groundwork for the case were carried out by Trump appointees.Biden DOJ tried to jail him over a Hillary Clinton MEME — and he WON
Douglass Mackey was sentenced to seven months in prison by the Biden administration for posting a Hillary Clinton election meme — but thankfully, his conviction has now been overturned.
The meme showed a picture of a black woman holding an “African Americans for President Hillary” sign, with copy over the image that read: “Avoid the line. Vote from home. Text ‘Hillary’ to 59925.”
In smaller letters it read: “Vote for Hillary and be a part of history.”
“I mean, you have to be a nincompoop to believe this, but you know, there’s a lot of nincompoops,” Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck says, noting that as soon as Biden was in office, “they decided to throw the book at him” anyway.
“A federal judge overturned this, and he is now free from this, insane, dare I say it, Hitlerian attempt on freedom of speech,” he adds.
“It’s a great day to be an American,” Mackey tells Glenn, happily.
Mackey found out that he was free on the first day of vacation with his wife and son, when his trial attorney sent him a text that just said, “Congrats.”
“It was a great day to be on vacation,” he says, adding, “Four and a half years since four FBI agents knocked on my door at 7 a.m., and that was seven days after Joe Biden was inaugurated.”
“They had you in their sights long before they got into office,” Glenn says, shocked.
“Oh, that’s right,” Mackey says. “They said, you know, ‘Are you Douglass Mackey? We have a warrant for your arrest.’ The first words out of my mouth were, ‘For what?’ And I really had no idea that this meme was going to be the basis for a prosecution, because at the time, I wasn’t even on Twitter.”
“But back in the 2016 election cycle, I tweeted thousands of times, so I had no idea,” he continues, adding, “But I did know that once they make you an enemy that it’s like, ‘Show me the man, and I’ll show you the crime.’”
Mackey was charged under the Ku Klux Klan Act, which is a federal felony.
“Sometimes people would rather just plea out rather than go through the expense of fighting it, but a federal felony, the KKK Act. Unbelievable,” Mackey tells Glenn. “And let me tell you this, they indicted Donald J. Trump on the same statute.”
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'Great victory' for free speech: Pro-Trump influencer convicted over memes talks vindication with Glenn Beck
An appeals court on Wednesday overturned the felony conviction of a pro-Trump social media influencer who was facing prison time for posting satirical memes on Twitter.
Douglass Mackey, also previously known online as Ricky Vaughn, joined "The Glenn Beck Program" on Thursday to share his reaction to the recent decision from the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
'Unfortunately, it's not part of the sweeping constitutional ruling that we wanted, but nevertheless, it's a great victory.'
After battling the charges for four and a half years and facing a seven-month prison sentence, Mackey told Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck, "Only faith can get you through it."
— (@)
During the 2016 election, Mackey posted memes on his Twitter account, which he told Beck had about 10,000 followers. He noted that he previously had an account with over 60,000 followers, but it was suspended before he made the posts referenced in the Biden Department of Justice's case against him.
"Save time," the posts read. "Avoid the line."
It included instructions on how to "vote from home" for then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton via text message.
The posts received only about 100 likes, according to Mackey.
Beck stated, "You have to be a nincompoop to believe this [meme is real]."
RELATED: Appeals court tosses out Biden-era conviction of social media troll for election interference
Despite what some would argue was a clear satirical post, Mackey was convicted in 2023 of conspiracy against rights for attempting to interfere with Americans' right to vote in the 2016 election.
Mackey shared the details of his arrest with Beck.
"Four FBI agents knocked on my door at 7 a.m., and that was seven days after Joe Biden was inaugurated," he said. "They said, 'Are you Douglass Mackey? We have a warrant for your arrest.' The first words out of my mouth were, 'For what?'"
"At the time, I wasn't even on Twitter. But back in the 2016 election cycle, I tweeted thousands of times. So I had no idea. But I did know that once they make you an enemy that it's like, 'Show me the man, and I'll show you the crime,'" Mackey continued. "I was very curious to see what they had cooked up."
Chief Judge Debra Ann Livingston, one of the three judges on the appeals court panel, found that prosecutors' evidence was "inadequate to show his knowing participation in a conspiracy."
While prosecutors claimed that 4,900 unique phone numbers texted the number provided in Mackey's meme, 98% received an automated reply informing them that Clinton's campaign was not affiliated with the post, Livingston noted.
"The government presented no evidence at trial that Mackey's tweets tricked anyone into failing properly to vote," the judge wrote.
Mackey called the case "a total humiliation" for the Biden DOJ.
He expressed some disappointment that the appeals court's decision was not a "sweeping" constitutional victory.
"These appellate courts, once they come to a conclusion on, let's say, one of the grounds, they don't rule on all the other grounds," Mackey explained. "Unfortunately, it's not part of the sweeping constitutional ruling that we wanted, but nevertheless, it's a great victory."
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Appeals court tosses out Biden-era conviction of social media troll for election interference
A popular social media troll who was prosecuted for meme-based election interference had his conviction tossed out for lack of evidence.
Douglass Mackey ran a popular right-wing account on social media that posted memes in 2016 telling supporters of then-candidate Hillary Clinton that they could vote for her by sending a text message on their phones. Prosecutors alleged that the posts constituted election interference.
There was a lack of evidence that Mackey communicated directly with other accounts that conspired to deprive others of their voting privilege.
Two days after Biden was inaugurated in 2021, Mackey was indicted for the scheme, and a jury later found him guilty in 2023. He was sentenced to seven months in prison.
On Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit overturned the conviction on the basis that there was not enough evidence to support the allegation.
“The jury’s verdict and the resulting judgment of conviction must be set aside,” Chief Judge Debra Ann Livingston wrote.
Among the evidence shown to the jury was a meme of a black woman in front of a sign for African-Americans supporting Clinton. The text on the meme read, “Avoid the Line. Vote from Home,” and “Text ‘Hillary’ to 59925," as well as, “Vote for Hillary and be a part of history.”
Prosecutors said that thousands of texts were sent to the number, ostensibly from those fooled by memes like the one posted by Mackey. His account had 58,000 followers at the time and was considered one of the more influential accounts in the election.
However, the appeals court found that no evidence showed that any voter was influenced by the memes that Mackey posted to his account. The court also said there was a lack of evidence that Mackey communicated directly with other accounts that conspired to deprive others of their voting privilege.
RELATED: Trump-supporting social media figure convicted of election interference, conspiracy over 2016 tweets
"Praise God. God is good. Now we sue,” Mackey responded in a series of posts on social media.
Mackey was accused of posting racist and anti-Semitic messages in his campaign to support then-candidate Donald Trump's first presidential campaign. His account had a profile image of "Ricky Vaughn," the fictional Cleveland Indians pitcher from the "Major League" movie franchise.
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$1 Million And 9 Years Later, Court Tosses Conviction Of Man Who Tweeted Hillary Meme
If President Joe Biden's administration was really worried about election integrity, silly memes were not the place to look.Far-Left Trans Activist’s Shady Voting Group Caught In Swing State Voter Suppression Texting Scheme
A shady voting group got caught texting thousands of swing state voters, suggesting they had already cast ballots in this year's elections.If Trump Wins, He Should Arrest And Prosecute Jimmy Kimmel
Douglass Mackey was jailed for making nearly the same joke about Hillary Clinton. We should force the left to play by its own rules.Critics ask whether DOJ will give Jimmy Kimmel the Douglass Mackey treatment for 'election interference'
Critics are wondering whether the Biden-Harris Department of Justice will hold Jimmy Kimmel to the same standard to which it held pro-Trump social media influencer Douglass Mackey, who was convicted for supposed "election interference" and sentenced to prison last year for memes.
There is cause to be skeptical. After all, the DOJ has a habit of holding conservatives to a higher standard than its ideological allies.
Former Trump advisers Stephen Bannon and Peter Navarro were convicted for supposed contempt of Congress, whereas Attorney General Merrick Garland and former Attorney General Eric Holder got off scot-free. The proudly pro-abortion DOJ has almost exclusively targeted pro-life activists when it comes to FACE Act charges. The same DOJ adopted a draconian and in some cases "fact-free approach" when prosecuting Jan. 6 protesters after previously treating Black Lives Matter rioters with kid gloves.
The titular host of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" has recently made a number of desperate appeals to potential voters, asking them to get out and vote — just not for President Donald Trump.
In his monologue Wednesday, the Harris booster said, "You have to vote. If you can vote early, vote early. If you can't vote early, vote on time. If you want to vote for Trump, vote late. Vote very late. Do your voting on Thursday or maybe Friday."
'Biden's DOJ sent Douglass Mackey to prison for sharing this same joke.'
Libs of TikTok responded, "Wasn't Douglass Mackey sentenced to prison for doing something similar? Will @TheJusticeDept investigate Jimmy Kimmel?"
Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) noted, "Douglass Mackey was sent to prison for this."
"Biden's DOJ sent Douglass Mackey to prison for sharing this same joke about Hillary," tweeted former Salomon Brothers and Citigroup investment banker John LeFevre. "Another example of the weaponized lawfare and two-tiered justice that awaits us if Kamala wins."
Mackey chimed in, tweeting, "Jimmy Kimmel told his joke to an audience of millions. The joke meme I sent out didn't even reach more than 100 people until Buzzfeed and Wired reported on it."
Mackey was arrested in 2021, convicted in New York for supposed "election interference," and sentenced in October 2023 to seven months in prison by an Obama-appointed judge, Ann M. Donnelly.
At the time, Trump said, "They're putting Douglass Mackey in jail for sharing a joking meme about Hillary Clinton seven years ago. Nobody ever heard of anything like that."
According to the Biden-Harris DOJ, "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 was legally invalid."
The Intercept noted that there is no federal law against lying about election mechanisms or the electoral process. Mackey was instead indicted under a Reconstruction-era statue known as Section 241 or the "Ku Klux Klan Act," which prohibits conspiring to "injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person" trying to exercise a constitutionally or federally protected right.
The DOJ was evidently proud of the mental gymnastics required to charge the Clinton critic, stating that his prosecution was "groundbreaking."
Mackey is appealing his case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the Supreme Court, should that fail.
According to Mackey and amici curiae, "The First Amendment tolerates narrow, clear statutes that target knowingly false speech concerning the time, place, and manner, or other technical mechanics of an election. But Section 241 is not such a statute. This Court should reverse the decision of the district court."
"When I made an election joke, the Deep State used it as a pretext to conduct a fishing expedition against me, subpoenaing all financial records, leases, employment information and pay stubs, and email accounts. Will Jimmy Kimmel enjoy the same?" Mackey tweeted on Thursday.
'Force these scumbags to live by their own rules.'
One X user noted that Kimmel's "violation is worse than what [Mackey was] convicted for, and he transmitted this over federally licensed airwaves. The @FCC, @FBI, #FEC and #DOJ should be contacted, @ABC should be immediately sanctioned, and @Jimmykimmel needs to be investigated. Anything less is selective and preferential justice."
Rob Eno, Blaze Media's director of content marketing, quipped, "It would be a real shame if everyone flooded the US DOJ crime tip line and ask them to charge Jimmy Kimmel with the same crime they charged Douglass Mackey with. A real shame. I'm not telling you to to go this link and do it."
Conservative commentator Matt Walsh tweeted, "I'm dead serious when I say if Trump wins he should have Jimmy Kimmel arrested and jailed. Force these scumbags to live by their own rules."
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