Sorry, Mark Zuckerberg — No Oval Office for You

For years, the elites have mused that the co-founder of Facebook would run for president, but the tables turned quickly against the millennial face of the premier social media outlet after the most recent data scandal revealed the site was trafficking users’ personal information to political organizations.

Zuckerberg can never successfully run and win because he violated the number-one rule in politics: He has blown the trust of the American people.

Since 2015, there has been plenty of publicly available evidence to suggest Zuckerberg has his eyes on the White House:

1.) Zuckerberg has the platform to do it. He runs the largest personal data mining platform in human history and has instant access to voter and consumer trends. We also now have proof that these tools can be used to manipulate elections.

2.) He has the personality for it. Those deep within Silicon Valley are known to say Zuckerberg has an “emperor” complex.

3.) Zuckerberg had the strategy for it. With his data scandal public, the secret to how he was going to accomplish it is out. Zuckerberg has been and was going to traffic in your personal information to achieve his political objectives — objectives counter to the very fabric of America.

Here’s the evidence, both public and private.

In December 2015, Zuckerberg and his wife formed the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), a for-profit limited liability company by which “Zuck” and his wife, Priscilla Chan, would fund philanthropic efforts. This is the Clinton Foundation 2.0.

The Clinton Foundation is the nonprofit started by former President Bill Clinton and wife Hillary Clinton that amounted to nothing more than some humanitarian aid and a lot of influence peddling. The foundation eventually compromised Hillary’s 2016 shot at the presidency.

Then there was Zuckerberg’s infamous Harvard commencement speech, which went “viral” (easy to do when you own a social media platform). The speech was flush with socialist identity politics, a massive endorsement of universal basic income, and a call for a “new social contract” to address wealth inequality.

More than the speech, Zuckerberg has surrounded himself with presidential-level talent. In 2017, he and his wife hired Joel Benenson, a Democratic pollster and adviser to former President Barack Obama. Benenson was also chief strategist of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.

They also brought on David Plouffe, the campaign manager for Obama’s 2008 run, and Ken Mehlman, the man who directed President George W. Bush’s 2004 re-election.

In addition to bringing on top-level talent, Zuckerberg went on a 50-state “listening tour” around the country after Trump’s 2016 victory — an unusual move for someone not interested in the presidency.

Zuckerberg even hired presidential photographer Charles Ommanney — who has worked with former presidents, including Obama and Bush 43.

For the listening tour, Facebook hired another full-time pollster to track Zuckerberg’s public perception in everything he said and did. After six months on the job, the pollster, Tavis McGinn, quit after becoming disillusioned with Facebook and the way it does business.

Finally, in 2016, Facebook changed its Securities and Exchange Commission financial disclosure statement to allow for Zuckerberg to take “voluntary” leave to serve in a “government position or office” — and yet retain control of Facebook.

Imagine the ability to both be president and control the world’s most powerful data mining platform at the same time. That amount of power in the hands of one individual could be truly dangerous for more than just the 200 million Americans active on Facebook, but for all of us.

Related: Can People Ever Use Facebook Again Without Fear?

That’s the publicly available information. Here’s what the scandal has revealed.

In March, news broke that Facebook had allowed a data firm to farm the private information of more than 50 million users without their permission — and then use that information for political purposes. This only made news because the information was used by a firm hired by the 2016 Trump campaign.

But Facebook can’t feign ignorance here. It allowed the exact same data sharing to be done for the Obama campaign in 2012. But back then, the media hailed the move as genius.

A former Obama staffer, Carol Davidsen, admitted via Twitter that Facebook knew what it was doing in 2012 and “allowed us to do things they wouldn’t have allowed someone else to do because they were on our side.”

Here’s the obvious. Facebook and Zuckerberg knew as early as 2012 that your personal information had been compromised and weaponized for political purposes. They didn’t just know; they allowed it to happen and were making money from it.

You thought Hillary Clinton’s email scandal was bad? Imagine an untrustworthy Zuckerberg with his hands on your personal information, our nation’s classified secrets, and the levers of democracy — all at the same time.

It’s also clear that Zuckerberg was planning to do it again — this time for his own aspirations.

You thought Hillary Clinton’s email scandal was bad? Imagine an untrustworthy Zuckerberg with his hands on your personal information, our nation’s classified secrets, and the levers of democracy — all at the same time.

Zuckerberg and those like him in Silicon Valley are the greatest threat to America and everything that makes it great. They control the flow of information and harbor political perspectives that are contrary to a free market, personal privacy, and a constitutional republic.

When Zuckerberg arrives on Capitol Hill April 11, Republican representatives can’t hold back.They must put his breach of trust on trial in front of the American people and remind us what real leaders do: Fight for the rights of those they represent.

Ahead of the 2018 and 2020 elections, the American people deserve to know that Facebook and other tech titans have placed their fingers on the political scale — and that the fingers aren’t on your side.

Brian Bosché is the chief operating officer at The Millennial Solution, and also a featured keynote speaker, best-selling author, and success coach to thousands of entrepreneurs worldwide. 

(photo credit, homepage image: Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, CC BY 2.0, by TechCrunch; photo credit, article image: Mark Zuckerberg on stage at Facebook’s F8 Conference, CC BY 2.0, by Maurizio Pesce)

The opinions expressed by contributors and/or content partners are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of LifeZette.