Back in the day, August was considered a no-man’s land, with “out of office” email replies the norm. But that’s no longer the case. This week Trump militarized Washington, D.C., hijacked the Kennedy Center Honors, and pompously flew to Alaska thinking he can outsmart Vladimir Putin.

And amidst all this, came the news that was almost too absurd to process: Mark Zuckerberg has decided to bring the insidious Robby Starbuck on board as an “AI advisor” to Meta. The last time I checked, Starbuck didn’t have a computer science or information technology degree.

In fact, after graduating high school at 16, and dropping out of community college, he went into video production. I know a software engineer at Facebook with two degrees and masters. When I asked what he thinks Starbuck would do, he wrote back, “Beats me.”

More recently, Starbuck has built a career in fueling outrage, dismantling diversity programs, and trying to crest the wave of a MAGA base that swims in DEI revulsion. Stupefying as it is, he now has a formal role at one of the most powerful tech companies on Earth.

The move stems from a lawsuit Starbuck filed against Meta, which the company chose to settle. If you read the news, I don’t think anyone goes to court anymore, at least when it comes to standing up for what is right. And it’s hard to root for a winner when the match is Zuckerberg vs. Starbuck. 

But instead of ending the relationship there, Zuckerberg gave Starbuck a cushy seat at the table. That’s not just distasteful judgment. It’s an alliance that assures that META continues on its progression of moving itself to the narrow-minded silos of the far right. 

I dare say that if Zuckerberg would have chosen Tucker Carlson for instance, it would have elicited less shock, and would have been a step down in terms of going full-throttle to the right. He went right to the top of the snake by snatching Starbuck.

I mean, why else would Zuckerberg make such a deal? It’s his latest attempt to curry favor with Donald Trump and the MAGA crowd. His transformation from the geeky critic to Trump’s social media sidekick is now out in the open. Remember, with Elon Musk, Trump never mentioned X, because that’s Truth Social’s competitor, although both sound eerily similar. . 

Last year, after Trump was elected again, Zuckerberg wrote a $1 million check for the inauguration, and made sure he was there in person sitting right behind the stone-faced Melania. 

Since then, Zuckerberg has been diligently working to ensure the new dictator-in-chief doesn’t disrupt his fortune, his empire, his tariffs, his tax breaks, etc. 

This has nothing to do with ideology. It’s all about power and money. Always has been, always will be. I say it all the time. You have two greedy billionaires, Trump and Zuckerberg, locked in a mutually beneficial hug, where influence is about the moola, and where public good is irrelevant and can go to hell.

Starbuck began, in baseball parlance, as a minor-leaguer, and not in the AAA. We’re talking a single-A player here. He was a lowly filmmaker (Nothing wrong with that!) before discovering that screaming about “wokeness” was a faster path to being famous. 

He sort of has the “Balloon Boy” mentality. He does stupid, mean, outrageous and thoughtless things, and wallows in the attention.

In recent years, he’s made himself a valuable tool (Fool?) of the far right by targeting brands and companies with diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. These spineless, useless companies have folded so far, partly due to Starbuck’s yammering.

With Trump back in power, Starbuck has been hammering and pressuring corporate America to ditch DEI entirely, and bragging about how he’s dismantling workplace protections and representation for marginalized groups. 

Oh, the thrill in making people feel small, unwelcomed, and discriminated against.

Starbuck’s anti-LGBTQ+ record is merciless and ruthless. He rails against Pride celebrations, smears trans people, and cheers efforts to strip away marriage equality. His rhetoric is dehumanizing, and now Meta has given him the keys to influence its AI policies.

Like everything else, there’s a silver-ling. For white, straight men who see social media as their playground for homophobic, xenophobic, and misogynist hate, this is fantastic news. Under Starbuck’s influence, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads are now poised to become even more nonrestrictive toward the kinds of vile language that drives users out and ushers abusers in.

For these narrow-minded agitators, the Zuckerberg – Starbuck partnership is a green light.

Starbuck’s rise has been fueled not by some kind of talent, but by fear, deceit and hate. Brands avoid his wrath because they’ve seen what happens when he makes them a target. Is he taking his lessons from Trump? Lambast a company or CEO on social media, and watch them quaver into submission?

It’s corporate blackmail masquerading as militance, and it works because companies like Meta care more about stock prices, investors and the bottom line than they do about truth or safety. Or, God forbid, not making anyone feel excluded. 

Now, with Zuckerberg’s blessing, Starbuck’s reach will expand exponentially. His grievances and putrid pontifications will be laundered and burnished through the legitimacy of Silicon Valley. 

Advising on AI? Hardly! He will be embedding his ideology into algorithms, moderation decisions, and content policies. AI isn’t just some fancy code. It’s the architecture of the future, and it will shape public opinion and the public square in ways we can’t even imagine. And Starbuck will be tinkering with it to meet his specifications.

Earlier this year, Meta loosened its fact-checking policies, letting misinformation flow more freely. What a wondrous achievement for Zuckerberg. At the time, it looked like another play for the affections of the far right. Now, it’s clear it was all building up to this moment where Meta openly embraces professional liars as partners.

Like Trump, Starbuck treats truth sacrilegiously. His smears are always intentional. And now Meta, with billions of users, has given this big mouth a global mouthpiece. 

For Zuckerberg, this signals his fealty to Trump’s and his base while insulating himself from MAGA retribution. For Starbuck, it’s a license to build his culture war from the fringes to the digital infrastructure that shapes public opinion.

Zuckerberg and Starbuck are grooming Facebook, Instagram, and Threads into platforms designed for MAGA loyalists and narrow minds. Soon it will be a place where white straight men set the tone, people of color are sidelined, women are silenced, and the LGBTQ+ community is erased and harassed. 

At one time, Zuckerberg wanted to build a town square of open dialogue that connected people. Well, now he’s fashioning a digital echo chamber especially for bigotry.