Donald Trump is Barack Obama’s inverse in a lot of ways that have been widely reported.
In my view, one of the most obvious and underreported ways is in their use of — and hopes for — the internet. And that comes to mind when I see Trump’s outspoken support for a vote-suppressing troll named Douglass Mackey.
Obama’s campaign and presidency represented what the internet could achieve at its best, whereas Trump’s have embodied it at its worst.
Both campaigns relied on digital targeting, for example. But Obama’s campaigns relied on targeting to get more people to the polls, while Trump — in his 2016 campaign, in particular — reportedly used digital targeting to dissuade many people from voting. (Trump took a victory lap on this point after he prevailed over Hillary Clinton, thanking the Black people who decided not to vote.)
And while Obama had creatives like digital strategist Ashleigh Axios devising ways to use the internet to bring people together and address inequality, Trump relied on folks like Brad Parscale — people who tried to come up with ways to agitate, castigate and manipulate potential voters online.
Obama invited fun and quirky social media influencers to help carry his message to the masses; Trump invited rabid right-wing internet trolls.
Obama invited fun and quirky social media influencers to help carry his message to the masses; Trump invited rabid right-wing internet trolls.
Obama used the internet to engage. Trump uses it to enrage.
It’s in this context that I view Trump’s praise for Mackey, a man convicted and sentenced to prison for his efforts to suppress Black votes in 2016. A new CNN report highlights the support Mackey publicly receives from Trump and his inner circle. (An attorney for Mackey told CNN that his client now regrets the tone and substance of his posts and said Mackey’s past tweets don’t reflect his current views.)
I’ve written about Mackey becoming a cause célèbre among right-wingers, who push…
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