This was entirely predictable, but it’s still worth calling out. Donald Trump, who started the whole “we should ban TikTok” idea before changing his mind as soon as Joe Biden decided it was a good idea (and a billionaire Trump backer who also was heavily invested in TikTok gave Trump a call), is now joining Biden in using the platform to campaign.
Former president Donald Trump has joined social media platform TikTok and made his first post late Saturday night, a video featuring the Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO, Dana White, introducing Trump on the social media platform.
The move came despite that fact that as president Trump pushed to ban TikTok by executive order due to the app’s parent company being based in China. Trump said in March 2024 that he believed the app was a national security threat, but later reversed on supporting a ban.
Not too long ago, we mocked Biden for continuing to use TikTok while signing a bill to ban the app as a national security threat, so it’s only fair to now do the same to Trump.
As you may recall, Trump initially moved to ban TikTok after a bunch of folks on TikTok made him look like a fool by reserving thousands of tickets for a rally and then not showing up. Within days, Trump had his administration cook up plans to ban the app, an effort that was eventually blocked by the courts.
You could argue that due to Trump’s recent flip-flop on whether the app should be banned this isn’t quite as hypocritical, and maybe that’s true, but only by a very slight degree.
In both cases, we’re talking about Presidents freaking out over an app that the kids use because they didn’t like how it was being used… and then deciding to use it themselves, because they feel the need to “reach young voters.”
It’s not just ridiculous pandering. It’s hypocritical pandering. If the app is a “national security threat,” then that should surely be true for Presidents and presidential candidates as well.
Or maybe this should be seen as evidence for what both of the candidates know: that TikTok isn’t really a national threat, but is a useful MacGuffin to present themselves as “tough on national security” or “against China” or some shit like that.
