In a plot twist that would make even M. Night Shyamalan raise an eyebrow, former President Donald Trump has joined TikTok. Yes, the very same app he once tried to give the boot from American soil. It’s like watching your grandpa, who swore off smartphones, suddenly become an Instagram influencer. Welcome to 2024, where reality is stranger than fiction.
Let’s rewind to 2020 when Trump was still in the Oval Office. Back then, he was all about giving TikTok the cold shoulder, citing national security concerns. His beef? The app’s owner, ByteDance, is a Chinese tech giant, and Trump feared they might be passing sensitive American user data to the Chinese government. He even whipped out an executive order to force ByteDance to sell off its American assets or face a ban. But just like trying to understand the plot of Tenet, federal courts found his efforts to be generally confusing and blocked them in the end.
What’s happening with Donald Trump and TikTok?
Fast forward to today, and it seems Trump has had a change of heart that would make the Grinch proud. Not only has he joined TikTok, but he’s also opposing efforts to ban the app. His first video, filmed at an Ultimate Fighting Championship match in Newark, features him standing next to UFC president Dana White. “The president is now on TikTok,” White announces, to which Trump replies, “It’s my honor.” Cut to Trump strutting into the arena to Kid Rock’s “American Bad Ass,” receiving a hero’s welcome from UFC fans. It’s like watching Tony Stark make a grand entrance, minus the Iron Man suit.
What’s behind this dramatic character arc? Is it just another unpredictable Trump move? Not quite. There’s method to this madness. Trump’s campaign sees TikTok as a golden ticket to reach younger voters, a demographic that traditionally leans Democratic. Think of it as his version of Steve Buscemi’s “How do you do, fellow kids?” meme, but with higher stakes.
Nearly a third of Americans under 30 get their news from TikTok, according to the Pew Research Center. While some of us are still trying to figure out what “cheugy” means, the youth are shaping their worldviews through 15-second videos. Trump’s team is betting big on this platform, especially since there’s apparently a two-to-one ratio of pro-Trump versus pro-Biden content on the app.
But wait, there’s more. Remember when Trump labeled Facebook as an “enemy of the people“? Well, now he’s using that as a reason to support TikTok. His logic? Banning TikTok would only make Facebook (now Meta) more powerful.
Meanwhile, the plot thickens with Trump’s own social media platform, Truth Social, facing turbulence. After a New York jury found him guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records, Truth Social’s stock took a 5% nosedive. In the first quarter alone, the company bled over $300 million. Joining TikTok might not boost Truth Social’s bottom line, but it could be Trump’s lifeline to stay relevant in the digital age.
The irony in this weird TikTok tango is neverending, because now that Trump is TikTok’s unlikely champion, President Biden is playing the role Trump once did. In April, Biden signed a law that would ban TikTok unless it’s sold to a non-Chinese company within nine months. TikTok, as you’d expect, are challenging the law in federal court, arguing it violates free speech. Their defense? There’s no evidence that China has ever influenced what Americans see on the app or spied on U.S. citizens through it. It’s basically a high-stakes game of “he said, she said.”
Some see Trump’s change of heart as a strategic move to capture the youth vote, while others smell the influence of billionaire ByteDance investor Jeff Yass. Even Steve Bannon, Trump’s former campaign strategist, is raising an eyebrow, suggesting money might be talking louder than geopolitical woes.
In less than 24 hours on TikTok, Trump amassed 2 million followers, and his debut video racked up over 34 million views. Whether you’re a MAGA hat-wearing fan or a Never-Trumper, you can’t deny his star power. As we head toward the 2024 election, this adds another layer of bizarreness to an already surreal political landscape. One thing’s for sure: when it comes to Trump, expect the unexpected. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go check if my grandma has joined OnlyFans.
Published: Jun 3, 2024 12:53 pm