Area Republicans are united, and rightfully so, in their opposition to the Biden administration’s Orwellian sounding Disinformation Governance Board.
It’s an egregious concept, and — whether intentional or not — comes across as a direct assault on free speech.
U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, are among several prominent Republicans that are calling upon the administration to immediately disband the disinformation board, a newly created segment of the federal Department of Homeland Security.
It hasn’t been disbanded — at least not yet. But word did come out of Washington Wednesday that the DHS was ordering a pause on the disinformation governance board.
The Associated Press said the disinformation board wasn’t being shuttered, but would be reviewed by members of a DHS advisory council who will make a final recommendation in 75 days.
What is there to review? It’s a terrible idea and the board should be dissolved immediately.
The disinformation board was created by DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who claimed it was necessary to protect national security by combatting disinformation that impacts areas like elections and immigration.
That’s a very broad statement. Mayorkas, and the administration, have done little at this point to explain what the real purpose is of this so-called disinformation board.
“What the heck is that?” Capito said in response to the creation of the disinformation board. “It sounds like it is governing free speech. There is a fine line there.”
Absolutely. Capito, a ranking member of the DHS Appropriations Subcommittee, recently grilled Mayorkas about the disinformation board and demanded it be dissolved.
“So, I think quite honestly, for the good of the rest of the department that now is a good time to abandon this ludicrous and much-maligned idea,” Capito told Mayorkas. “When you say that we have operational control of the border is that definitionally disinformation? Because from a lot of our perspectives we don’t believe that is true. So it seems subjective and undefined what disinformation is.”
Morrisey, the Republican attorney general of the Mountain State, offers a more blunt assessment of the situation, calling it an attempt by the Biden administration to police Americans’ protected free speech and an attack on the First Amendment.
Morrisey has joined 19 other state attorneys general in calling upon Mayorkas to immediately disband the disinformation board and to cease all efforts to police Americans’ protected free speech.
“Every American knows the U.S. Constitution forbids the government to abridge the freedom of speech,” Morrisey said. “The very existence of the Disinformation Governance Board will inevitably have a chilling effect on free speech. All Americans will hesitate before they voice their constitutionally protected opinions, knowing the government’s censors may be listening and watching, so some will decide it is safer to keep their opinions to themselves."
West Virginia has joined Virginia, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Utah in calling upon the Biden administration to immediately disband the disinformation board.
Biden and Mayorkas would be wise to heed the argument of the states. Americans aren’t blind. They can see what is happening here, and how this so-called disinformation board is actually a poorly disguised attempt by the administration to control the national narrative and what Americans are saying on social media and beyond.
Don’t just pause the disinformation board. Eliminate it now.