Dirty Delete is a weekly column that goes deep into the social media history of politicians that runs on Thursdays in the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter. If you want to get this column a day before we publish it, subscribe to web_crawlr, where you’ll get the daily scoop of internet culture delivered straight to your inbox.
Let us crawl the web for you. Subscribe to web_crawlr here.
Analysis
Indiana’s incoming Secretary of State Diego Morales had help from QAnon conspiracy theorists to win his race.
Morales hasn’t personally espoused the conspiracy theory that demonic baby eaters run the world, but he did get backing from Juan O. Savin. Savin is the QAnon influencer behind the coalition of candidates who ran for Secretary of State in multiple states.
Happily, voters rejected all those candidates except one: Morales.
On paper, Morales is a typical politician. He served in the military and worked for former Vice President Mike Pence when he was governor of Indiana. His online presence is the internet equivalent of a yawn interrupted by the occasional hot take.
But if you scratch hard enough, the glossy veneer of photo ops and glad handing with senior citizens over pancakes rubs off to reveal Morales promoting his campaign on Steve Bannon’s show, getting stanned by the hard-right Gateway Pundit, and lying about former President Donald Trump winning the 2020 election.
Then there’s the fact that he might’ve committed voter fraud, per the Indianapolis Star. Oops!
Given this, it makes a certain kind of sense that a man who promoted masks to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and decried the murder of George Floyd would also attract support from people who think COVID was a hoax and Floyd is actually alive and well.
Last year, Morales tweeted that Rep. Adam Kinziner (R-Ill.) is a “disgraceful, anti-Trump zealot” because Kinzinger had the guts to vote to impeach the man who incited the Capitol riot.
He also didn’t particularly care for the fact that Kinzinger voted for the Jan. 6 committee.
Surely it’s just a coincidence that Morales seems to have taken a break from Twitter that day.
If you think Morales’ old boss Pence takes issue with him defending the man who said he “deserves” the mob’s calls to execute him, think again. Pence endorsed Morales for Secretary of State.
Perhaps Morales had earned enough capital by defending Pence’s widely criticized response to an HIV outbreak in Indiana and declaring his opposition to reproductive freedom to overcome a teensy transgression like stanning the man who suggested he deserved to be hanged.
Online, you can find Morales on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.
Why it matters
While other election fraud liars with QAnon backing faltered, Morales sailed into office.
He’s promising to use his position to make it harder to vote under the guise of securing elections.
But the most important question is: What will he do if Indianans vote against his will in spite of such efforts?