Poor Devin Nunes. Fresno congressman is being censored by Big Tech, and it’s so unfair
Poor Devin Nunes. He’s a victim of censorship.
The congressman for California’s 22nd District is being silenced. He and other like-minded political thinkers no longer have the means to exchange information, news and ideas.
“Republicans have no way to communicate,” Nunes groused.
Nunes made this comment during a televised interview with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo, whose weekly program “Sunday Morning Futures” averages 2.1 million viewers, according to an in-house press release from “America’s Most Watched News Network.”
More than 2 million people watching and no way to communicate with any of them. It’s completely unfair.
This is a serious issue, folks. Since Twitter banned President Trump for inciting last week’s riot at the U.S. Capitol that left five people dead and Apple, Google and Amazon all dropped Parler from their servers, right-wingers like Nunes have effectively been muzzled.
Nunes’ constituents, in particular, have reason for concern. What would happen in the event our congressman wanted to raise public awareness about an issue or simply had something on his mind? How would he disseminate that message?
I suppose Nunes could always record a podcast and publish it on his very own YouTube channel. But what busy politician has time for that anyway?
Oh. Nunes does — even though there haven’t been any new podcasts since September. Good thing the last three months were relatively uneventful.
Besides Fox News and podcasts, Nunes can always hop on KMJ with his pal Ray Appleton and feel free to say whatever he pleases without ever facing a tough question.
Hang on. You’re saying Appleton has been suspended indefinitely without pay? And Cumulus hosts ordered to stop insinuating on the air that the election was stolen?
My goodness. What’s the world coming to?
Nunes: Investigate private businesses
Nunes can’t even fall back on a tenet that’s near and dear to Republican hearts: a devotion to free-market capitalism.
That’s out the window now, too. It turns out some free-market capitalists (such as the ones that run giant tech companies) don’t want their platforms used to promote political coups and spread white nationalist conspiracy theories.
No matter. Befitting the small-government proponent he is, Nunes called for the Justice Department and FBI to crack down on private companies for acting in their best interests.
“There should be a racketeering investigation on all the people who coordinated this attack on not only a company, but on all of those like us,” Nunes told Bartiromo.
“I have 3 million followers on Parler. Tonight, I no longer will be able to communicate with those people.”
Huh. By that reasoning, Nunes’ 3 million followers on the right-wing social media site don’t also watch Fox News in their spare time. Must be too liberal for them.
Nunes’ constituents might be tempted to wonder why their congressman is so concerned about communicating with his online crowd as opposed to the people he represents in the House of Representatives.
But then, alas, they remember. It’s been more than a decade since Nunes held a public forum in his district.
Disenfranchising voters vs. censorship
And, of course, Nunes no longer gives interviews with local media outlets that don’t toe the MAGA line. One of the last times he did, in February 2018, things took a nasty turn.
Bee reporter: Are you going to be holding any sort of forums that are going to be open to the public during the election cycle?
Nunes: “Your paper is a joke to even bring these issues up or raise these issues. You know — it’s actually sad.”
Yes, tremendously sad. A politician should never be asked if he ever meets directly with his constituents without them having to buy a plate at a political fundraiser. Ridiculous of me to suggest otherwise.
Speaking of ridiculous, can we please not compare the persecution Nunes must endure with his own actions?
When Nunes and six other California Republicans voted last week to dispute election results in Pennsylvania and Arizona, that’s not a form of censorship. I mean, he did vote to disenfranchise millions of Americans and their ballots without any credible evidence. Still, that’s not close to the same thing.
Nunes didn’t say a word during the riot at the Capitol. Nor did he offer comment after trying to void the election results in two states. But as soon as he and other Republicans lost some of their social media following, as great an ignominy as can be imagined, he could no longer remain silent.
What a stand-up guy. So glad he’s our congressman.
This story was originally published January 12, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
