Nina Jankowicz, the disgraced former head of the Biden administration's controversial Disinformation Governance Board, lashed out at the numerous critics who exposed her partisan ideology and record of promoting disinformation during a Wednesday night appearance on MSNBC's All In with Chris Hayes.
"To say that I am just a partisan actor was wildly out of context," said Jankowicz, a Democratic donor who volunteered for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in 2016 and has a long history of applauding Democrats on social media. She is also a musical theater enthusiast and member of a "Harry Potter"-themed band whose song "Nevertheless, I Persisted" is an ode to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.).
"I have prided myself over my career of being a really nuanced, reasonable person," Jankowicz told Hayes, without providing evidence. The interview took place hours after Taylor Lorenz, the controversial Washington Post columnist, reported Jankowicz had resigned and the administration's plans to establish the Disinformation Governance Board had been "paused" in response to a "coordinated" attack by "the right-wing Internet."
Lorenz, who has a reputation of being neither nuanced nor reasonable, was widely condemned for her slanted framing of the board's demise, which ignored the fact that Democratic lawmakers and prominent civil liberties groups were among those skeptical of the administration's plan to combat so-called disinformation. "How are so many reporters tweeting this story like this with a straight face?" wrote liberal journalist Josh Barro. "This industry has gone insane."
Shockingly enough, Jankowicz also has a history of praising Lorenz on social media, which probably explains everything you need to know about the story's provenance. "Characterizing the fall of the Disinformation Governance Board as a disinformation op is a *demonstration* of the bankruptcy of the 'disinformation' frame," Barro added. "It's just whatever Taylor Lorenz dislikes or disagrees with."
Jankowicz promoted this bankrupt viewpoint during her interview with Hayes, suggesting it was "ironic" that the disinformation board was "taken over by disinformation" and "sensationalist narratives" that were "completely wrong."