Rick Scott doubles down on disinformation board opposition, says feds want to decide ‘truth’
Rick Scott. Image via AP.

scott
'This is about your federal government deciding what truth is, and what speech is acceptable.'

U.S. Sen. Rick Scott on Tuesday continued his offensive against a new board from the Department of Homeland Security dedicated to squashing disinformation.

Invoking George Orwell‘s dystopian novel “1984” again, Scott said that the DHS Disinformation Governance Board really is a way for the Joe Biden administration to define what is and isn’t truth for its own political purposes.

“This isn’t about the truth. This isn’t about protecting families. This is about your federal government deciding what truth is, and what speech is acceptable,” Scott thundered during a Senate leadership media availability at the U.S. Capitol.

Scott then discussed the disinformation board in the context of the “Thought Police” in Orwell’s novel.

“The Thought Police, they would tell everybody exactly how they could think and what they could say,” Scott related.

The Senator then invoked censorship on social media, referencing “Hunter Biden‘s laptop” as an example of these mediums telling people “what was true and what was not true.”

“And Republican Senators were conspiracy theorists,” Scott carped, “because that’s what they decided.”

The new board, Scott continued, would tell Americans “what the truth is.”

“And just like Politifact, they’ll go off to the left, they’ll tell Americans exactly what the truth is and what you can talk about,” the Senator wrapped.

Expect more from Scott this week on the subject. In a press release from his Senate office Monday, Scott said he would be “pressing” DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas about the Disinformation Governance Board during Wednesday’s Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing.

Scott also is a co-sponsor of legislation introduced by Sen. Tom Cotton that would block federal funds from setting up the Disinformation Governance Board. Seventeen Senate Republicans, including Florida’s Marco Rubio, are introductory co-sponsors of the measure.

According to Homeland Security Today, the so-called Disinformation Governance Board will work to counter misinformation and disinformation. The Associated Press notes that work will take many forms, ranging from scrutinizing messaging received by undocumented immigrants crossing the Mexican-U.S. border to election disinformation, such as that from Russia. Conservatives, however, have their doubts.

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has written for FloridaPolitics.com since 2014. He is based in Northeast Florida. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


One comment

  • margaret kosciely

    May 4, 2022 at 5:30 pm

    Naturally, the Senator from the Putin Party would object to any entity which would monitor disinformation from Russian sources or from other nefarious political operators. He is a prime example of a liar and a dissembler. We all know how dishonest he is by his record as a corporate CEO.

    It is a tragedy that what should be the “loyal” oppositiion, the Republican Party, should have degenerated to this level of behavior which insults the intelligent while confusing the poor people dumb enough to succumb to his message.

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