New reporting in The Daily Beast revealed that Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for Pennsylvania governor, is secretly running a meme page on Facebook that is teeming with antisemitic, racist, homophobic and sexist posts.
This is not the first time — or even the tenth time — Mastriano has been accused of antisemitism. Mastriano has previously been condemned by Jewish Pennsylvanians for attacking Democratic nominee Josh Shapiro’s Jewish day school, backing the antisemitic founder of Gab, and spreading antisemitic conspiracy theories.
Mastriano also knows how to delete Facebook content that he doesn’t like — this summer, he was caught regularly deleting Facebook Lives in which he spread conspiracy theories and far-right talking points.
The Daily Beast: PA Guv Candidate Doug Mastriano’s Secret Meme Page Is a Far-Right Rats’ Nest
Roger Sollenberger | November 1, 2022
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Republican Pennsylvania governor candidate Doug Mastriano’s official campaign Facebook account is also helping with another group on the social media site: a Facebook group which has for months featured a stream of xenophobic, transphobic, and antisemitic memes.
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The campaign’s role in the public group—called “Mastriano Memes”—has not been previously reported, but Mastriano’s official Facebook account was still an active administrator for the page as of Monday evening.
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The page is a firehose of right-wing online content, sometimes hosting dozens of posts a day. Some of the most extreme content mocks trans people, fearmongers about migrants, and trafficks in antisemitic tropes.
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As an administrator, Mastriano—a state senator and dyed-in-the-wool election-denying conspiracy theorist—has control over what content stays up on the page. That would include posts about election fraud, such as one this week that Facebook fact-checkers flagged for promoting “false information,” but remains on the page.
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“We’re gonna hop over on the other page, Doug Mastriano Fighting For Freedom, where we can talk freely,” Mastriano said. “So please follow me over to Doug Mastriano Fighting For Freedom, we’ll continue the conversation off of this government page, and onto a page where we can speak freely about everything.”
Published: Nov 1, 2022