“The Big Lie” the claim that somehow the 2020 Election was not free and fair has since January 6 permeated the right-wing media in ways unimaginable – many of us thought the deadly insurrection at the Capitol would end this discussion. But in fact, as the months of 2021 went on, adherence to the “Big Lie” became a core tenant of those seeking attention on the right or victory in GOP primaries.

Well thanks to our friends from Florida Politics, we now know Governor Ron DeSantis is now actively fanning the flames of the “Big Lie” when in closed company around GOP activists and donors.

“Zuckerberg from Facebook spent $420 million in quote nonprofits. And what they would do, they would go into these key areas, places like Wisconsin and Atlanta and all these places. And they would give huge amounts of money to these local election offices,” DeSantis said. “But what they would do is basically commandeer the office, they bring in a bunch of partisan operatives, and then they would administer it in a partisan way to try to help defeat Trump. And so that had a huge impact on this election. And it was dirty. It was underhanded and in the state of Florida it is now illegal.”

Ron DeSantis, October 15, 2021

The quote speaks for itself and needs no real interpretation. DeSantis is claiming Facebook (a tech company, which means they are evil in DeSantis’ new populist world) planted partisan operatives in elections offices in Wisconsin and Atlanta among other places to steal the election from Trump. This is what he is saying, period.

DeSantis, as is his new populist persona has to attack tech companies. The Governor has moved squarely toward an anti-free market, anti-corporate position the last eight months as he’s become an advocate for corporations not being able to regulate their own workplaces or platforms in accordance with public health standards or user agreements with customers.

As a progressive person, I have actually deleted my Facebook account because I see it as a bastion of misinformation that threatens the health of our Republic and similarly democracies abroad. So it’s again odd the populists feel the platform is against them – from where I sit the platform has done more to aid their misinformation and quest to create an alternate set of narratives and facts than any entity outside Fox News.