Politics within the US has had its justifiable share of silly moments, however the current banning and (kind of) unbanning of TikTok might rank as one of many stupidest. On the identical time, the episode neatly encapsulates the present second: it’s an ideal instance of Donald Trump’s showmanship, the Democrats’ incompetence and the bounds of bipartisanship. If I had been a TikTok teen I’d give you some kind of experimental dance for instance these themes however I’m outdated and fully devoid of rhythm, so phrases are going to must suffice.
Let’s begin with Trump, who, together with his traditional expertise for self-promotion, has positioned himself because the man who introduced TikTok again from the lifeless, regardless of being chargeable for signing its dying warrant within the first place. To refresh everybody’s reminiscence, in 2020 Trump issued vaguely worded government orders that described TikTok and WeChat as threats to nationwide safety. There doesn’t appear to be a lot proof, by the best way, that TikTok is any extra of a menace to nationwide safety than any of the opposite data-sucking apps all of us have on our telephones. The primary argument from its critics appears to be that it has Chinese language house owners – and so they’re clearly not going to be accountable stewards of individuals’s information in the best way that People resembling Mark Zuckerberg are.
Trump’s government orders kicked off a number of years of authorized challenges round TikTok. Ultimately, the Republicans and the Democrats unified behind an effort to drive a sale of the app; final April, Joe Biden signed bipartisan laws requiring TikTok mother or father ByteDance to promote to a US proprietor inside a yr or to close down. Having either side of the aisle work collectively in the direction of a typical position is more and more uncommon, by the best way: “It took TikTok to convey Republicans and Democrats collectively in Congress,” Bloomberg marvelled on the time. The struggle in Gaza reportedly performed a job on this sudden spirit of unity: quite a few politicians expressed concern that there was too a lot pro-Palestinian content material on the app. Certainly, Mitt Romney referenced the difficulty in relation to the “overwhelming help” to close TikTok down.
Having set all this chaos in movement, Trump began to slowly change his tune about TikTok. In December, he proclaimed that he had a “heat spot” in his coronary heart for the app as a result of it had helped him achieve traction with younger folks. One imagines that spot in his coronary heart has grown even hotter, as a result of TikTok has now turned itself into one in all Trump’s largest cheerleaders. On Saturday evening, shortly earlier than the deeply unpopular ban was about to enter impact, TikTok went darkish for its 170 million US customers however hinted that Trump would possibly reserve it. Then, lower than 24 hours later, TikTok was introduced again to life. Its customers had been greeted with a welcome message proclaiming: “On account of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is again within the US.” It was good PR for the incoming president.
TikTok isn’t “saved”, to be clear. Its future continues to be unsure and it in all probability received’t live on in its present kind for much longer. I don’t know precisely what’s going to occur with it – possibly it’ll be renamed TrumpTok and offered to Meta, which some say has been making an attempt to undermine TikTok for years – however you’ve acquired to admire how Trump performed this. He walked into his inauguration because the man who had managed to avoid wasting a much-loved app from being banned by Democrats. Sure, I do know that the fact of the state of affairs is much more advanced than that however, in politics, notion is actuality. And the notion right here is that the Democrats owned the TikTok ban, and Trump reversed it.
Trump’s TikTok victory wasn’t completely of his personal making, to be honest. The Democrats primarily gift-wrapped it, and handed it to him with bended knee. However what else do you count on from the Democrats? They’re horrible at messaging. The social gathering is going through its lowest rankings in greater than 30 years for a purpose: it appears to do not know who or what it stands for and is totally out of contact with widespread issues, notably amongst younger folks. Polls present that 58% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say the social gathering wants main adjustments, or to be fully reformed. It’s not simply TikTok going through an unsure future; the Democrats must evolve earlier than they implode.
Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist
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