While Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) dared to express concern about his party's involvement in censoring coverage of Hunter Biden in the weeks before the 2020 election as revealed in the first edition of the Twitter Files, he appears to be the only one. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA), in fact, has come out in particularly full force against the Twitter Files, of which there are now seven editions, the seventh and latest edition having been released earlier on Monday. A supplemental had come out on Sunday as well, released by Matt Taibbi, who has released several editions.
As our friends at Twitchy highlighted, Rep. Lieu took notice of the supplemental and responded in his sarcastic way, to which Taibbi noticed and responded. He raised a crucial point about what, exactly, the congressman was encouraging.
I’m also curious as to why a member of Congress would be encouraging people not to read something. If there’s nothing to it, you should be encouraging people to read that and discover it on their own.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 19, 2022
The congressman has been something of a troll for a while now, including and especially when it comes to tweeting about the Twitter files. On Sunday alone he tweeted multiple times, including at Taibbi, and suggested he do other kinds of Twitter File reveals, despite mocking what the independent journalist has done so far.
Oh hi @mtaibbi, are you also going to do a breathless “Twitter Files” of @elonmusk banning journalists? Or are you just a partisan hack?
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) December 18, 2022
Now there’s nothing wrong with being partisan. I’m a Dem politician which means I’m partisan. But purported journalists shouldn’t be partisan. https://t.co/2flODSlQwy
Dear @mtaibbi: Story is partisan because you selectively cherry pick anecdotes but ignore actual data that shows Twitter favors conservative accounts. You also ignore Twitter banning journalists. And the FBI lists the 2017 FITF program on its website. It’s simply not news. https://t.co/uFzLBEKb5A
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) December 19, 2022
A look at Lieu's replies shows he's also engaged with Twitter users calling him out for going after Taibbi. An advanced search shows that Lieu has tweeted about the Twitter Files at length overall as well.
Last Monday, Lieu also bragged about how his account is still around while sarcastically responding to Elon Musk in a quote retweet.
I’m going to eat some Kale salad today. And make fun of Marjorie Taylor Greene. And watch the video of lots of woke people booing @elonmusk at Dave Chappelle’s show. And work on some climate change legislation. And listen to Elton John.
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) December 12, 2022
Because, freedom. And
I’m still standing. https://t.co/Po50LJYjdi
This was a similar tactic from when Lieu in June of last year openly touted how he is violating his Catholic faith amidst the conversation of whether or not President Joe Biden and other pro-abortion Catholics should be denied Holy Communion.
Dear @USCCB: I’m Catholic and you are hypocrites. You did not tell Bill Barr, a Catholic, not to take communion when he expanded killing human beings with the death penalty. You are being nakedly partisan and you should be ashamed. Another reason you are losing membership. https://t.co/kpIYRolnHD
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) June 18, 2021
Dear @USCCB: Are you going to deny communion to Catholics who:
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) June 18, 2021
-Had an abortion?
-Are divorced but didn’t get an annulment?
-Happen to love another human being of the same sex?
You should be deeply ashamed for politically weaponizing the sacred sacrament of Communion. https://t.co/N53FeJbYwC
Dear @USCCB: I’m Catholic and I support:
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) June 18, 2021
-Contraception
-A woman’s right to choose
-Treatments for infertility
-The right for people to get a divorce
-The right of same sex marriage
Next time I go to Church, I dare you to deny me Communion. https://t.co/bUmiyJ8TtH
As much as Lieu irks those he disagrees with when it comes to his childish tactics, the congressman likely has his seat for as long as he wants it. He won reelection last month by nearly 30 points. He will represent California's 36th Congressional District due to redistricting, which has a D+21 rating, and has represented the 33rd Congressional District, which has a D+12 rating.
Lieu was also recently chosen by his fellow Democrats to be the vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus for the 118th Congress, granting him the fourth position in House Democratic Leadership, a press release from his office dated December 1 touted.
Democrats overall are doubling down when it comes to urging social media platforms to go along with their censorship tactics, as Spencer highlighted earlier on Monday when covering a letter to Nicholas Clegg, the president of global affairs for Facebook parent company Meta, from Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Cathy Castor (D-FL), Andre Carson (D-IN), and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).
And yet Democrats still expect Americans to blindly believe that they are the party of free speech and that it "has been well documented" as evidenced by White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre's typically tone deaf remarks during Monday's press briefing. It was also particularly rich that Jean-Pierre would even just mention that social media companies like Twitter "make their own independent decisions about content moderation" as "a private company," given that Democrats and the administration, including the president himself, have threatened to go after Musk.
KJP is trying to pretend that the White House is full of dedicated free speech activists. pic.twitter.com/m54xuozClI
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) December 19, 2022
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