Almost a year ago, the House Commerce Committee advanced a a bill, 50-0— Mike Gallagher (R-WI), who was about to leave Congress and Raja Krishnamoorthi who is planning to run for Dick Durbin’s Senate seat— meant to to force ByteDance to sell either sell Tik Tok or shut down operations in the U.S. Corrupt, conservative Democrats Josh Gottheimer (Blue Dog-NJ), Seth Moulton (New Dem-MA), Mikie Sherrill (New Dem-NJ), Haley Stevens (New Dem-MI), Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), Ritchie Torres ($$$-NY), and Shontell Brown (New Dem-OH) were front and center with their GOP colleagues.
In the end, only 33 Democrats (and 25 Republicans) voted against the final bill. Democrats have had more bad leadership from Hakeem Jeffries and his ill-prepared team on this… and now many are sorry, sorry, among other things, to be pissing off over 170 million American Tik Tok users today... unless Trump steps in to save the day, which is looking for and more likely!
Yesterday, Wisconsin progressive Mark Pocan explained why he opposed the bill back then and voted against it. “There are many problems with how the privacy of our personal data is handled by all social media platforms that should be addressed,” he said. “But instead, Congress mistakenly went after one platform without noting any actual specific problematic behavior simply because it was owned by a Chinese company. Going after one company was largely chest-pounding, performative and often xenophobic rather than substantive. And now, too late, some Dems have buyer’s remorse. This is a great example of how Congress fumbles technology issues.”
Late last night the NY Times reported that “Hours before a federal law banning TikTok from the United State was set to take effect, the social media app went dark, and U.S. users could no longer access videos on the platform. Instead, the app greeted them with a message that said ‘a law banning TikTok has been enacted. We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution,’ the message said. ‘Please stay tuned!’ The app also appeared to have been removed from Apple’s U.S. app store.” It will be interesting to see if their role in advancing this law hurts Josh Gottheimer’s and Mikie Sherrill’s chances in the New Jersey gubernatorial Democratic primary this year. Neither is competent to do the job in the first place and this demonstration their bad judgment should help eliminate the two conservatives from the race.
On Saturday, David Leonhardt noted that “It has become a cliché to lament that the U.S. government no longer does big, audacious things. But banning TikTok— a social media platform that roughly half of Americans use— would certainly qualify as big and audacious. But yesterday, Trump— who was bribed by billionaire Jeff Yass to switch positions on Tik Tok and keep it open— told Meet The Press that “he will ‘most likely’ give TikTok a 90-day reprieve from a potential ban in the U.S. after he takes office Monday. ‘I think that would be, certainly, an option that we look at. The 90-day extension is something that will be most likely done, because it’s appropriate. You know, it’s appropriate. We have to look at it carefully. It’s a very big situation,’ Trump said in the phone interview. ‘If I decide to do that, I’ll probably announce it on Monday,’ he said.”
TikTok CEO Shou Chew is expected to attend Trump’s inauguration ceremony Monday, along with other tech executives.
On Friday, TikTok’s future remained uncertain, as Chew thanked Trump for his efforts to keep the app running in the U.S.
Even before the Supreme Court’s ruling, Biden administration officials signaled that they would not enforce the law on Sunday, the last day of Biden’s term.
“Given the sheer fact of timing, this Administration recognizes that actions to implement the law simply must fall to the next Administration, which takes office on Monday,” the White House’s Jean-Pierre said in a statement after the ruling.
“The statements issued today by both the Biden White House and the Department of Justice have failed to provide the necessary clarity and assurance to the service providers that are integral to maintaining TikTok’s availability to over 170 million Americans,” TikTok said in a post on Twitter.
“Unless the Biden Administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, unfortunately TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19,” the statement added.
On Friday, Andrew Desiderio, Diego Areas Munhoz and Ben Brody reported that while congressional Republicans are happy to see Tik Tok go dark, Democrats find themselves in the bizarre position of teaming up with Trump to keep it alive. “Democrats,” they wrote, “are staring down the consequences of a TikTok ban, namely the public backlash likely to come from getting rid of one of the most popular apps with young voters. ‘No matter how people feel about it, whether they were in support or opposition to it, this is going to have a cultural effect,’ said Rep. AOC, a regular social media user with broad appeal among young voters. Like Pocan, AOC voted against the ban. So did Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), who “tried unsuccessfully to pass a bill granting a 270-day extension this week. ‘My hope is that we can create the conditions where, even if the ban goes into effect on Sunday, it’s very clear that Donald Trump will do everything he can on Monday to revive it,’ Markey said. Top Republicans, meanwhile, continue to be supportive of the law as written despite Trump’s attempts to save the app. Sen. Tom Cotton (AR), the No. 3 Senate Republican and Intelligence Committee chair, blocked Markey’s bill on Wednesday, saying the Chinese government has had ‘plenty of time to make a deal.’ Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who heads the Senate Commerce Committee, and Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY), chair of House Energy and Commerce, told us they support the law and the incoming ban… Very few Republicans, however, are directly addressing Trump’s friendly posture toward TikTok. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Trump’s incoming secretary of state, has been Congress’ loudest critic of TikTok over the years. But Rubio told us last week that he’d defer to Trump.”
On the substance, the ban is idiotic - as the post says, there needs to be uniform treatment of how user data is treated across all social media platforms. But it is the law of the land. If a Democratic president came into office and refused, even for 90 days, to enforce a law that had been passed by Congress, signed by the previous president and just days earlier approved by SCOTUS, a GOP controlled House Judiciary Committee would immediately begin an impeachment inquiry. Waiting with baited breath ... No? Crickets?
Well, maybe one of those `Constitutional Sheriffs' could arrest the malefactor.
Why Were Congressional Democrats Manipulated Into Allowing Trump To Play The Role Of Tik Tok Hero?
Hey, YOU asked. Allow me to answer:
Because you elect a party that is not only utterly corrupt, unapologetic pussies... but they are also hapless politicians. And this is nothing new. Anyone remember that little "Eliminate ICE" thing that the nazis allowed to be voted on, resulting in the democrap author having to vote against her own bill?
But you all keep voting for them. So... good on ya??
note: you all seem to think it's normal to vote for hapless turds and then bitch when they turn out to be hapless turds. It would be far more productive if you did not vo…