After just three weeks, the Department of Homeland Security has paused the Disinformation Governance Board – what a win for our constitutional freedoms and the first amendment! The idea that this administration was so blatant in their target of free speech was the central reason its creation was so severely challenged by Republicans.
Moreover, their choice of Nina Jankowicz, the self-made expert on the subject of disinformation to lead this board was ridiculous. Ms. Jankowicz background was never in mass media/ communications or science / internet technology but rather in political science, language arts and activism. Being the author of two books does not qualify you for a public service job of this magnitude with the DHS.
After she was exposed on TikTok, singing glib songs in a parody of Julie Andrews, trying to dispel disinformation - she wound up gaining the name of “Scary Poppins” and no one could take her seriously. She continued to add fuel to the Republican challenge by her ongoing tweets that were highly criticized.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., critical of the creation of this board and the DHS choice of Jancowicz as head, stated -
"Rather than police our border, Homeland Security has decided to make policing Americans’ speech its top priority. They’re creating a Disinformation Board. No, really. And take a look at the views of the leftist radical running it,"…Later, in an interview with DHS Director Mayorkas, he inquired "Why on God's green earth would you nominate someone (to lead the board) who is a human geyser of misinformation?"
- Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo
According to The Washington Post when the DHS decided to shut down the board on Monday, Nina Jankowicz had prepared her resignation letter. Though they offered her the chance to stay in the department, she officially resigned Wednesday.
After journalists questioned her role citing a plethora of questionable positions on freedom of speech and government censorship, as well as the discovery of several embarrassing Tik-Tok videos, the Biden Administration is now trying to paint poor Nina as a victim. Truly, those who watched those unbelievable Tik-Tok videos were victims themselves, requiring antacids to quell the stomach burning they produced. Awful does not begin to describe them.
Maybe Ms. Jankowicz will make up a quick tune to tell her story of defeat, though likely no one will want to see or hear it. Truly her resignation is cause for celebration.
A DHS spokesperson complained, that Ms. Jankowicz has been subjected to “unjustified and vile personal attacks and physical threats,” with White House press secretary Andrew Bates adding-
“These smears leveled by bad-faith, right-wing actors against a deeply qualified expert and against efforts to better combat human smuggling and domestic terrorism are disgusting,”
-WH Press Secretary Andrew Bates
Keep in mind, had the board not “paused” and Jankowicz had stayed, she would likely be subject to more questions and congressional testimony about her role on the disinformation board, if Republicans gained a majority in one or both houses of Congress. Gratefully we have been spared that event and the Democratic party will escape the embarrassment.
Lest the woke left think that America is asleep like Joe Biden, they had better think again.
"If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter."
-George Washington