Douglass Mackey, a staunch admirer of ex-President Donald Trump, was found guilty of conspiring to tamper with the right to vote in the 2016 presidential election and was sentenced to seven months in jail. Prosecutors said that Mackey’s use of the internet identity “Ricky Vaughn” to post memes encouraging Hillary Clinton supporters to submit meaningless votes via text texts constituted an election interference conspiracy.
After being convicted, Mackey questioned the scope of individual liberty in the United States in a recent interview with Tucker Carlson. Angered by the legal repercussions he risks for what he calls “harmless memes” meant to lampoon the presidential candidate, he questioned the legitimacy of the country’s claim to freedom.
Mackey, who is 33 years old, expressed his disappointment in the decline of basic rights by saying, “I thought that this was America, I thought that we have the First Amendment, due process rights, that we could criticize people in our ruling class.” Concerns about the precedent of being “thrown in jail for making fun of Hillary Clinton” were also voiced by him, echoing those of Tucker Carlson.
Mackey warned of the serious implications of his case, saying, “The scary thing is if they think that you’re conspiring on the internet, they can subpoena your entire life and dig through everything you’ve got, so I mean it’s a very dangerous precedent.”
Mackey was found guilty in March, and his attorneys contended that the memes were examples of’shitposting,’ a word for intentionally offensive internet satire. There was a bogus allegation that the “Vote from Home. Text ‘Hillary’ to 59925” meme was “Paid for by Hillary for President 2016” in the small print. Prosecutors stated that at least 4,900 people texted the false phone numbers. Mackey claimed that most people got the joke and questioned whether the charges were overly harsh and whether the actions should be classified as “ten-year jail federal felonies.”
At 7 a.m., FBI officers showed up at Mackey’s house and handcuffed him, not immediately elaborating on the charges against him. He claimed he was unafraid of starting his jail term and leaving his wife and infant behind.
Judge Ann Donnelly made it clear that Mackey was being held accountable not for his political views but for his behavior throughout the sentencing hearing. Turner Buford, an assistant U.S. attorney, argued that Mackey’s actions were motivated by an attempt to “vaporize votes, make them disappear.”
Digital organizing director for Clinton’s 2016 campaign Jessica Morales testified that she was worried about the effect the ‘vote by text’ tweets were having on the candidate’s chances. Mackey, who had 58,000 Twitter followers at the time, was seen as a “important influencer” because he spread false information regarding Democratic voter fraud.