In episode 38 of his newest production, “Tucker on X,” host Tucker Carlson interviewed Douglass Mackey, the man sentenced to seven months in prison for sharing deceptive, anti-Hillary Clinton social media posts during the 2016 presidential election.
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
During the election, Mackey ran the pro-Trump twitter account @RickyVaughn99 and published posts depicting campaign ads that included phrases such as, “Avoid the Line. Vote from Home,” “Text ‘Hillary’ to 59925,” and “Vote for Hillary and be a part of history.” Mackey’s posts also used Clinton’s frequent “#ImWithHer” hashtag.
Mackey was sentenced on October 18 after being found guilty after a three-week trial in March for his “role in a conspiracy to interfere with potential voters’ right to vote in the 2016 election for the Office of the President of the United States,” according to the Eastern District of New York U.S. Attorney’s Office.
During his 26-minute interview with Carlson, Mackey said his posts at the time – consisting of pro-Trump memes, jokes, and links – were “purely out of passion” after having just left a job as an economic researcher.
When Carlson asked Mackey if he thought at the time when he was posting pro-Trump content on his social media page if that was his constitutional right, Mackey said, “Yes, absolutely.”
“I thought that this was America – that we have the First Amendment, due process rights, that we could criticize people in our ruling class,” Mackey said.
Mackey went on to explain that he had no role in creating the visuals – describing them as “shit posts” – which got him sentenced to federal prison.
“I found it on 4chan,” Mackey said.
“You’re just a random guy who’s amusing the hell out of yourself by pushing your candidate on social media,” Carlson noted, to which Mackey replied, “Yes. That’s exactly right.”
Mackey said the moment he knew he was “considered a felon by the U.S. government” was when 8-10 law enforcement agents showed up at his residence at 7:00 a.m. and handcuffed him “seven days after Joe Biden was inaugurated.”
“I knew that politicians could be vindictive and the federal government sometimes could be influenced by those politicians. And I know that they can sort of get very creative with federal statutes, so if I was the enemy of their candidate then I thought maybe they could cook something up,” Mackey said.
“Anybody who learns the details of my case goes, “That’s it? What’s going on?”” Mackey added.
On X, Carlson also posted a link to Mackey’s ‘Meme Defense Fund,’ which is an online fundraiser raising money for Makcey’s appeal.
“Mackey is appealing this case to 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,” the fundraiser for Mackey states.
As of press time, the latest installment of Carlson’s video podcast, posted at 5:05 p.m. Central Standard Time on Thursday, had over 3 million views. The 38 episodes posted by @TuckerCarlson have been seen nearly 4 billion times on Twitter / X.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
