- 2020 Donald Trump needed to ban TikTok. 2024 Trump is towards a ban.
- One argument for Trump’s change: A distinguished Republican donor can also be a TikTok investor.
- However there’s a better argument in plain sight: Trump by no means cared a couple of TikTok ban within the first place.
You guys!
You are by no means going to imagine this, however: Donald Trump is… wildly inconsistent.
For example: In 2020, when he was President, Trump mentioned he needed to ban TikTok from the US. However on Thursday, on his Fact Social web site, Trump mentioned TikTok must be within the US — as a result of whether it is banned, it could profit Fb which is “a real Enemy of the Folks!”
Loopy, proper?
Additionally, seems, there may be playing at Rick’s.
What precipitated Trump to vary his thoughts? Some cheap individuals are placing two and two collectively, and noting that Trump not too long ago met with billionaire investor Jeff Yass, who’s each an investor in TikTok’s guardian firm ByteDance and an enormous Republican backer, partly by way of the Membership for Progress lobbying group.
Yass and the Membership for Progress have fought with Trump up to now, however that is throughout now, Trump mentioned final week. He introduced that Yass is “unbelievable” and Trump and the Membership for Progress are “again in love, we’re deeply in love.”
However that is a cynical argument, proper? Absolutely Trump may change his thoughts for causes aside from cash?
This is a extra hopeful manner of framing it, by way of Republican Sen. Rand Paul: In 2020, Paul mentioned, Trump was deeply involved about the best way a large Chinese language client app may abuse People’ privateness.
By attempting to ban TikTok again then, Paul mentioned, Trump ended up pushing the corporate to reform itself as an alternative by way of Venture Texas — which TikTok billed as “an unprecedented initiative devoted to creating each American on TikTok really feel secure, with confidence that their knowledge is safe and the platform is free from exterior affect.”
Increase. Drawback solved.
Trump helped remedy Tik Tok knowledge downside by Venture Texas, which might retailer and safe all US customers knowledge in U.S.
So why is the Home GOP siding with Biden and nonetheless attempting to ban Tik Tok?
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 8, 2024
I’ll provide a special argument, which I am going with till somebody proves me improper: Again in 2020, Trump did not care about TikTok, in any respect. It was on his radar for a minute, and when he realized that speaking about banning it could generate a whole lot of consideration, he made extra noises about banning it. Then ultimately, his administration wrote an government order, and… by no means actually adopted by with something.
As I wrote again then: “Trump’s strategy to TikTok, in addition to WeChat, a Chinese language-based messaging app he has additionally tried to ban, has been wildly erratic, even by Trump requirements. At numerous occasions, Trump has introduced that he would ban the app; or that he would drive TikTok to promote itself to a US firm; or that any deal would drive TikTok to provide a portion of the gross sales proceeds to the US; or that TikTok was going to contribute $5 billion to a fund “so we are able to educate folks as to the true historical past of our nation.”
So certain, you possibly can act aghast that Trump’s phrases and actions in 2024 do not sync up with issues he mentioned and did 4 years in the past. However it’s manner simpler to know when you acknowledge that he perhaps did not care concerning the issues he mentioned and did 4 years in the past.
Whereas we’re right here, let’s be even-handed, and word that Trump just isn’t the one politician who has inconsistent and contradictory approaches to TikTok.
For example, there’s President Joe Biden, who says he helps laws that will drive ByteDance to promote its US TikTok operations or face a ban.
That is the identical Joe Biden who’s utilizing TikTok in his 2024 presidential marketing campaign.
Sure, Biden opened up his personal TikTok account this yr. However extra essential are his marketing campaign’s efforts to courtroom creators on TikTok and different platforms, hoping they’ll amplify Biden’s messaging for them. Which is why Biden’s White Home was pre-briefing influencers about his State of the Union tackle this week.
Nonetheless right here? Nice. As a result of I additionally needed to notice that TikTok’s most up-to-date anti-ban marketing campaign, which kicked off yesterday when the app informed its customers to name Congress and complain, is now being described, in some corners, as counter-productive.
For example: “TikTok Stunt Motivates Lawmakers to Take On the App,” says the Wall Avenue Journal.
“TikTok’s marketing campaign shortly overwhelmed the cellphone strains of some congressional places of work, which had been bombarded with hang-ups and questions. It additionally illustrated how TikTok may mobilize a military of individuals and collect knowledge to push consumer conduct, which some lawmakers say is the precise purpose they do not need the corporate to have ties again to China.”
I puzzled what TikTok considered that argument, so I requested a PR rep, and acquired this assertion in response: “If true, it’s an fascinating political calculation for a Member of Congress to listen to from 1000’s of constituents imploring them to oppose a invoice, get pissed off, after which vote sure to spite them.” Good zing!
In order that’s a whole lot of TikTok Ban information to eat over a brief interval. However I am nonetheless sticking with the argument I made yesterday:
It is easy to vote for a TikTok ban when you do not actually suppose it is going to end in a TikTok ban. However it’s loads more durable to truly ban TikTok for actual — notably throughout a really shut presidential marketing campaign, the place the danger of blowback from offended customers is an actual factor. I do not suppose that is going to occur.
