Donald Trump has an uncommon political sagacity. His recent embrace of TikTok has taken it to the next level. This was the president who began the high voltage searchlight on TikTok, and even signed things to make the company history in the United States.
In 2020, he signed executive orders aimed at banning TikTok and WeChat unless their U.S. operations were sold to American companies. However, these efforts were blocked by U.S. courts, and the subsequent Biden administration withdrew the Trump-era executive orders in June 2021.
Despite his previous efforts to ban TikTok, Trump recently told Bloomberg BusinessWeek, “I’m for TikTok because you need competition. If you don’t have TikTok, you have Facebook and Instagram.”
This shift in position has raised eyebrows, given his attempts to ban TikTok and history of criticizing Meta Platforms-owned Facebook and Instagram for suspending his accounts following the January 6 Capitol Hill riot.
But the BIG bans happened where Trump was de-platformed in Facebook, Twitter and other social media ecosystems. Then, another moment came: he now wants to have his job of the presidency back, and his opponent – Mr. Biden – has played into the hands of the frenemy-strategists who legislated for the extinction of TikTok.
But instead of Trump joining the party. He has changed the playbook: “I’m for TikTok”.
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Magically, he wins the young people, a weak point for him when last he was on the ballot. And Biden is now the person against TikTok and the young people. But beyond politics, why should Trump reward Facebook which banned him, by kicking its main competitor out of America? With TikTok advocacy, Trump uses one stone to get two birds. He wins the presidency!*
*yet to decide who gets my vote. I am a one issue voter: education.
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