When Ben Goldey, a House communications director from Kentucky, saw a Facebook Live video of protesters outside Sen. Mitch McConnell’s house, he immediately took a screen grab of the video and posted it to Twitter. The protest was led by left-wing activist Chanelle Helm, who chanted, “Just stab the motherf- -ker in the heart.”
A growing movement of radical left-wing activists has become bolder, and Goldey’s tweet highlighted the danger that Republican lawmakers are increasingly facing.
There was once a time when a mob of protesters outside a senator’s personal residence chanting death threats would be national news, but now major companies entrusted with disseminating the news are actively silencing those trying to raise awareness of the mob.
After sending the tweet, Goldey’s account was locked down, and he never received a formal explanation from Twitter support as to why. Instead, Goldey had a phone conversation with a friend at Twitter, who explained that it was a very “nuanced” issue, but under no circumstances could he unlock his account without consenting to the deletion of the tweet in question. The reasoning? By posting the video, Goldey was “elevating” the threat posted on a different platform.
Meanwhile, the woman behind the threat, Helm, maintains an unlocked Twitter account, because Twitter officials have decided that her threats don’t violate their standards because they appeared on Facebook and in the real world.
Goldey told The Post, “Twitter allowed '#MassacreMitch’ to trend nationwide, but decided to lock any account that raised awareness of actual threats made against Sen. McConnell. Interestingly, while our accounts were locked, the woman screaming the threats outside of the senator’s home has been able to freely use the platform without interruption.”
It’s not just Goldey’s account that has been locked, either. The McConnell campaign took Goldey’s video and posted it on its own account, which is now locked as well. The “Team Mitch” account refuses to delete the video, and so remains in a state of indefinite purgatory.
In the last week, scholar and former CNN anchor Reza Aslan has used the same social media platform to call for White House adviser Kellyanne Conway to be “eradicated,” and the brother of Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro, Rep. Joaquin Castro, doxxed Trump donors in his district, publishing their personal information on the site. Both of these users continue to use the site uninterrupted.
National Republican Senate Committee senior adviser Matt Whitlock tweeted, “Reminder that Louis Farrakhan is still on Twitter and his tweet calling Jewish people ‘termites’ didn’t even result in a suspension. The 2nd most powerful Republican in the country tweeted a video of someone threatening HIM and his account was suspended.”
Republican groups have halted all Twitter spending while the McConnell account remains locked. President Trump’s re-election campaign and the RNC had forecast between $300,000 and $500,000 in Twitter spending for August, the RNC told The Post.
Anyone familiar with the politics of Silicon Valley knows that decision won’t force Twitter to change course; those at the social media giant worship liberal politics above even the almighty dollar.