PUS politicians have had their fair share of stupid moments, but the recent ban and (sort of) unbanning of TikTok may rank among the stupidest. At the same time, this episode nicely sums up our current moment. A perfect example of Donald Trump’s showmanship, Democratic Party incompetence, and the limits of bipartisanship. If I were a teen on TikTok, I’d probably come up with some kind of experimental dance to illustrate these themes, but I’m old and completely lacking in rhythm, so words have to suffice. No.
Let’s start with Trump. Trump, with his usual flair for self-promotion, has positioned himself as the one who brought TikTok back from the dead, even though he is responsible for signing the death warrant in the first place. To refresh your memory, in 2020, Trump issued a vaguely worded executive order describing TikTok and WeChat as national security threats. By the way, there doesn’t seem to be much evidence that TikTok is any more of a threat to national security than the other data-sucking apps we all have on our phones. Critics’ main argument seems to be that there are Chinese owners, but they are not going to manage people’s data responsibly like Americans like Mark Zuckerberg. It’s obvious.
President Trump’s executive order begins a years-long legal challenge over TikTok. In the end, Republicans and Democrats banded together to force the sale of the app. Last April, Joe Biden signed a bipartisan bill requiring TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to sell to a U.S. owner or shut down within a year. Incidentally, it’s becoming increasingly rare for both sides to work together toward a common goal, and Bloomberg marveled at the time that “TikTok was needed to unite Republicans and Democrats in Congress.” The war in Gaza reportedly contributed to this sudden spirit of unity. Many politicians have expressed concern that the app has too much pro-Palestinian content. In fact, Mitt Romney mentioned the issue in relation to the “overwhelming support” for shutting down TikTok.
After causing all this confusion, Trump slowly began to change his attitude about TikTok. In December, he declared that he had a “warm spot” in his heart for the app as it helped garner support from young people. Now that TikTok has transformed into one of President Trump’s biggest cheerleaders, one imagines that his emotional wounds have grown even warmer. TikTok went dark for its 170 million users in the United States on Saturday night, just before the highly unpopular ban went into effect, but Trump hinted that he might save it. And less than 24 hours later, TikTok was back. Its users were greeted with a welcome message declaring, “As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the United States.” This was great PR for the next president.
To be clear, TikTok is not “saved.” Its future is still uncertain and it probably won’t continue to exist in its current form for long. We don’t know exactly what will happen with this, but maybe it will be renamed TrumpTok and sold to the metas who have been trying to undermine TikTok for years – but how does Trump know this? He deserves praise for what he did. He entered the inauguration as the man who saved the much-loved app from a ban by Democrats. Yes, I know the reality of the situation is much more complex than that, but in politics, perception is reality. And the perception here is that Democrats led the ban on TikTok and Trump repealed it.
To be fair, Trump’s TikTok victory wasn’t entirely due to Trump himself. Democrats basically gift-wrapped it and handed it to him on bended knee. But what else do you expect from Democrats? They’re bad at messaging. There’s a reason the party is facing its lowest approval ratings in more than 30 years. The party appears to have no idea who or what it represents, and is completely out of sync with popular concerns, especially among young people. The poll found that 58% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents think the party needs major changes or complete reform. TikTok is not alone in facing an uncertain future. The Democratic Party needs to evolve before it collapses.
Arwa Mahdawi is a columnist for the Guardian
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