Whoa, it should be bigger news. I too was under the impression that it was a done deal, with Larry Ellison coming in to mop the floor.
It would be so funny if ByteDance and China continued to successfully mock the US in this silly posturing.
It would be so funny if ByteDance and China continued to successfully mock the US in this silly posturing.
A massive tax hike on imported goods, making loads of things more expensive? Political suicide! Constant flip-flopping and backtracking on deals? Political suicide! Doing mocking impersonations of disabled people? Political suicide! Accepting donations from neo-nazi groups? Political suicide! Cheating on your pregnant wife with a porn star? Political suicide! Repeatedly visiting a billionaire pedophile's private island? Political suicide!
Except it turns out actually none of that is political suicide.
E.g., overturning roe v wade made a bunch of republican evangelical republican voters grey happy while restricting the lives of a relatively small amount of people. And I know this statement sounds crazy but hear me out and do the math: You have to be a woman (~50% probability), get an abortion (~25% of women in their lifetime) and reside in a state that restricts abortion (about 20% of the population). Multiply those together and you end up with a 2.5% probability that overturning roe v wade has a tangible impact on your life.
You can apply this same concept to a lot of today’s hot button topics.
In contrast, 1/3 of all adults use TikTok. About 60% of people under 30 use it.
Like I said in my other comments, this is comparable to a government shutting down the NFL. It would be a major optics disaster to implement a TikTok ban.
I’m not debating whether the guy is morally reprehensible.
People can ignore that because that doesn’t affect them. Chris Brown is still selling out stadiums because he didn’t personally assault his fans.
What does affect people are everyday things like whether their favorite app got banned or whether eggs are affordable.
Losing TikTok would be like if the government shut down the NFL. This isn’t hyperbole.
I never claimed all those other irrelevant things you brought up were political suicide. In that sense they are unrelated topics. Dare I say you’re making a strawman argument.
Again, focus on thinking about direct and noticeable impact to the lives of the masses, who are largely entirely disconnected or very casually attached to the political discourse. As you pointed out by implication, activists are a small portion of the overall population.
Roe v. Wade is an issue that has theoretical impact to most women from a statistical standpoint. Yes, the destruction of those rights is infuriating, but only if you’re actively paying attention to politics and/or actively trying to get an abortion. And even then, if you live in a large collection of high population blue states, the ruling being reversed didn’t actually change anything for you. Californians, New Yorkers, and Illinoisans didn’t lose any abortion rights.
Most women will never get an abortion. It’s an important political issue but also one that doesn’t impact most people.
59% of adults under the age of 30 use TikTok. 1/3 of all adults use it. Losing that app is a wildly noticeable negative to people’s lives.
The unwashed masses of idiots would see this as “Trump banned TikTok” and wouldn’t know or care that the law comes from congress or any of the other political details.
This admin is so transparently corrupt, and they're making out like bandits.
Trump and his family have made billions of dollars on the crypto rug pull. Everyone knew it was a shitcoin from the start.
Trump has pardoned violent criminals and felony fraudsters for business deals and "donations".
His family's net worth has estimated to have risen billions this year alone.
Elon Musk essentially bought his way into the control of the government and tried to buy off votes.
Kristi Noem funneled at least one sole source contract worth $220 million dollars to a firm closely tied to her and her previous political campaigns.
Ron DeSantis spent $250 million dollars of no-bid contracts for essentially a tent interment camp, many of questionable value and to politically tied companies
They don't care if you don't like them and I don't think they care if they accomplish what they ran on. They have done a bang up job enriching themselves and their donor class, however.
Losing voter confidence in droves? Not a problem if you're confident about establishing the next 1000 year reich.
in 2021 they already showed their colors. now i'm sure they've mastered the game of staying.