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thatguymike | on: TikTok goes dark in the US
A huge shame it'll be undone in 24 hours. Shouting out Trump by name in the ban message is hilarious, they are really doing their best to tie his hands.
Trasmatta | parent | next
It's extra bizarre, because Trump is the one that made the initial move towards banning TikTok during his first term.
3vidence | root | parent | next
My brain is trying to understand the loop going on here.

* Republicans ban TikTok

* For whatever reason ban doesn't go through (was it via executive order)

* Dems pickup where republicans left off and ban TikTok

* Republicans undo ban

Why.....

Especially since it was the same republicans in both cases

cycrutchfield | root | parent | next
Not too hard to understand. He sensed he had leverage based on national security concerns to dangle a sword above their heads. One of their investors donated a bunch of money to help get him re-elected, so now he will reverse his earlier position based on some other pretext. It’s all theater.
tayo42 | root | parent | next
the republican platform is just "not democrat" and plays to people who need an identity
rvz | root | parent
> * Dems pickup where republicans left off and ban TikTok

So why didn't Biden stop the ban? Instead he signed it and did not intervene. The problem is Biden continued and did not stop it they left Trump to reverse the ban.

It would have been better for the clean up his own mess but again they allowed Trump to "save them" and Biden would have just left TikTok for dead.

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paulcole | root | parent | next
Not bizarre at all. Trump doesn’t need to ever acknowledge that he’s the one who made that initial move. Just take credit for saving it now.

Maybe if he’s feeling himself he’ll say it was a 4D chess move to make Biden look like a bozo by being the one to ban it just for him to swoop in and undo the ban in 48 hours.

It’s impossible to gotcha a guy who pretends the past never happened — or who insists that his imagination of the past is accurate.

Karrot_Kream | root | parent
Exactly. That and trying to bury the lede about the Biden Administration's role in the Gaza ceasefire would send a signal to a huge chunk of voters alienated from the Democratic Party that the Republicans care about them. I'm afraid (though unsure how realistic my fear is) that a enough GenZ and anti-Gaza voters will flip to Trump if Trump keeps TikTok going that the Democrats won't be able to win in the midterms.

A lot of the anti-TikTok sentiment seems to revolve around the mores of college-educated, upper-middle-class white GenX and Millenial mores, which the Republicans have gleefully used as punching bags.

paulcole | root | parent | next
Democrats getting trounced by Trump/Republican Party is one of the most embarrassing things to ever happen to the Democratic Party and that is saying something.

If they lose (again) it won’t be because of TikTok. No place left to look but in the mirror.

Trasmatta | root | parent
> I'm afraid (though unsure how realistic my fear is) that a enough GenZ and anti-Gaza voters will flip to Trump if Trump keeps TikTok going that the Democrats won't be able to win in the midterms.

There are about 10 million news cycles between now and the midterms, highly unlikely anyone will remember any of this by then.

Gen Z voters are also young, and young people never vote.

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cycrutchfield | parent | next
He lives to take credit for moments like this. One can only wonder what his actions will be conditional on, but it’s a virtual certainty that it will need to benefit him personally.
zfg | root | parent
It did benefit him personally.

He said so himself. "Trump told the court that TikTok was an important platform for his presidential campaign and that he should be the one to make the call on whether TikTok should remain in the US—not the Supreme Court.":

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/12/trump-told-scotu...

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