This says it all about the social media titan who is determined to help Trump destroy our democracy:
When Zuckerberg was a junior in high school, he transferred to Phillips Exeter Academy, where he spent most of his time coding, fencing, and studying Latin. Ancient Rome became a lifelong fascination, first because of the language (“It’s very much like coding or math, and so I appreciated that”) and then because of the history.
Zuckerberg told me, “You have all these good and bad and complex figures. I think Augustus is one of the most fascinating. Basically, through a really harsh approach, he established two hundred years of world peace.” For non-classics majors: Augustus Caesar, born in 63 B.C., staked his claim to power at the age of eighteen and turned Rome from a republic into an empire by conquering Egypt, northern Spain, and large parts of central Europe. He also eliminated political opponents, banished his daughter for promiscuity, and was suspected of arranging the execution of his grandson.
“What are the trade-offs in that?” Zuckerberg said, growing animated. “On the one hand, world peace is a long-term goal that people talk about today. Two hundred years feels unattainable.” On the other hand, he said, “that didn’t come for free, and he had to do certain things.” In 2012, Zuckerberg and Chan spent their honeymoon in Rome. He later said, “My wife was making fun of me, saying she thought there were three people on the honeymoon: me, her, and Augustus. All the photos were different sculptures of Augustus.” The couple named their second daughter August.
Sure. Nothing grandiose or narcissistic about any of that. But at least it explains the haircut …
Of course, Facebook is an arbiter of truth for all kinds of things. They have an entire fact-checking team. It’s just powerful politicians he believes should have free rein to lie to the country on his platform.
But there’s only one powerful politician in the country who makes a fetish out of lying and spreading rank propaganda to the public to distort and degrade our democracy. And Jr Augustus apparently wants to help him spread those lies. Those comments explain why that might be.