OPINION:
The biased corporate liberal media’s handling of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s controversial $400 million spending spree during the 2020 election is eerily similar to their coverage of Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop.
The “Laptop” story, which is all about Hunter Biden’s shady foreign business dealings and connections to his father, was once dismissed by President Biden himself as a Russian disinformation plot during a nationally televised debate with then-President Donald Trump. Now almost two years after the fact, it’s been deemed legitimate and an appropriate topic for mainstream media reporting. We can only speculate whether this act of censorship — I call it election interference — would have changed the results.
In the same vein, we must never forget the 6-year-old Russia collusion hoax that the mainstream media used to try to destroy Mr. Trump throughout his entire term in office. In a federal courthouse recently, Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign manager testified that Mrs. Clinton herself was personally involved in the phony smear campaign. So, left-wing journalists still have their Pulitzer Prizes for reporting on a Russian collusion story that never actually happened.
Now, the anti-Trump media’s coverage of the “Zuck bucks” story is limited to dismissing any criticism of the unprecedented injection of private Big Tech money to “help” run our election in 2020 as a conspiracy theory. Time and time again, if a subject doesn’t fit perfectly into the left’s false political narrative that the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic election was the most honest and secure election in history, it’s labeled “The Big Lie.”
Asking straightforward questions about an eye-popping $400 million expenditure by a billionaire in the context of a razor-thin election used to be great fodder for investigative journalism, but not anymore; not in the era of Trump Derangement Syndrome.
Citizens United Productions’ recent documentary entitled “Rigged: The Zuckerberg Funded Plot to Defeat Donald Trump,” seeks to shine a light on Mr. Zuckerberg’s money and drills down on three core questions. Why was it spent, how was it spent and where it was spent. The film is documented with facts, evidence and government records. Following the flow of money through official IRS reports makes
it clear that what transpired is far from some conspiracy theory.
It’s simply a matter of common sense to at least entertain the notion that when $400 million dollars is funneled to thousands of election offices around the country during crunch time in an election that may come down to tens of thousands of votes, it’s going to have some impact. Those in the mainstream media who are so quick to dismiss this idea are showing their partisan hands.
If the 2020 election was so perfect, why then have 24 states passed legislation that would ban or restrict Zuckerberg-style funding of elections in the future? And voters should be equally concerned that five Democrat governors have vetoed the legislation, including in the battleground states of Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
This should never be allowed to happen again, period. Governments should run our elections without the influence of private largesse from wealthy special interests.
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry and Wisconsin Special Counsel Michael Gableman deserve credit for their courage and determination in continuing to investigate when others want to move on in the name of political expediency. Other states should be conducting similar audits. While much has been learned relating to the issues surrounding Zuck bucks, some big questions remain. For example, once Mr. Zuckerberg’s money reached a county or city elections office, did any of it fund the ballot harvesting depicted in Dinesh D’Souza’s new documentary “2000 Mules”? Millions of concerned Americans are asking the same question and wondering if there’s any connection.
It’s no coincidence that Georgia got more Zuck bucks than any other state in the country and a prime example of why it was most certainly a partisan effort, despite the denials. Facts are stubborn things and the facts are that Georgia got $50 million of Mr. Zuckerberg’s money because Georgia was going to be a most important battleground state in the union in 2020.
The recently filed IRS 990 forms speak for themselves; the bulk of the money went exactly where President Biden needed it most. For example, 92% of the grants of $400,000 or more — totaling $272 million — went to jurisdictions that Mr. Biden won. This reality is probably why Mr. Zuckerberg recently announced there will be no encore performances by him in future elections. This is a win for election integrity.
The left-wing establishment across the board has worked overtime to run out the clock on the 2020 election, but that’s hardly a reason to forget it ever happened. And as in the case of Hunter Biden’s laptop, it must not be swept under the rug.
If Republicans take over Congress next year, which I fully expect, a thorough investigation of Mr. Zuckerberg’s $400 million investment in 2020 should be at the top of the oversight priority list, along with the Hillary Clinton Russia frame job and Biden corruption allegations. Furthermore, Rep. Claudia Tenney’s proposed legislation that would ban the private funding of elections should be called up for a vote in first 100 days of the new Congress.
• David N. Bossie is president of Citizens United and he served as deputy campaign manager for Donald J. Trump for President.
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