In the Blink of an Eye
All other pending business (and a potential snowstorm) be damned, the Supreme Court will hear TikTok v. Garland today. Congress passed a law requiring that TikTok be sold to American owners or be shut down in this country by Jan 19, 2025, not uncoincidentally the day before Donnie becomes President. Congress didn’t know that Donnie would win the 2024 election when they set that deadline. Congress thought it knew how Donnie felt about TikTok. He had issued an Executive Order back in 2020 decrying TikTok’s ability to “allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information. China can track the location of Federal employees, build dossiers for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage.”
And you thought that Matt Goetz’s homemade dance videos were innocuous.
Courts (probably with Obama judges) negated Donnie’s Executive Order, so Congress passed the anti-TikTok law. TikTok sued to have it overturned. The Biden administration did its constitutional duty by defending the law as it slowly passed through the courts.
In March, 2024, Donnie met with Republican mega donor Jeff Yass, a major investor in TikTok. Donnie’s campaign needed money at the time. In the blink of an eye, TikTok changed from a tool of the Chinese Communist Party to “the quintessential example of American free speech”. Donnie proclaimed on Truth Social, “FOR ALL THOSE WHO WANT TO SAVE TIKTOK IN AMERICA VOTE TRUMP!!!” ALL CAPS. and three exclamation points, he must really mean it.
Also, in the blink of an eye, Trump 2024 received a cash injection.
Donnie’s lawyers submitted a Friend of the Court brief for the Supremes’ consideration today. It includes the following: “President Trump is one of the most powerful, prolific, and influential users of social media in history. Consistent with his commending presence in this area, President Trump currently has 14.7 million followers on TikTok with whom he actively communicates. President Trump alone possesses the consummate dealmaking expertise, the electoral mandate, and the political will to negotiate a resolution to save the platform while addressing national security concerns.”
I am throwing up in my mouth while typing the above.
If the Supremes have any backbone at all, they will realize that Donnie’s 14.7 million TikTok followers pale in comparison to Khaby Lame’s 162.4 million or Mr Beast’s 106.9 million (probably both Chinese Communists in disguise). They will ask why Donnie didn’t apply his “dealmaking expertise” to assuage “national security concerns” with TikTok when he was in charge of national security for four years while he was president the first time.
Oh, that’s right. Jeff Yass didn’t give him any money back in 2016. This court case could have been avoided in the blink of an eye if he had.
By Ed Dufton