Trump’s Changing Tune
TikTok is a social media app developed in China and owned by ByteDance.
Last week Trump said he would ban TikTok regardless of what happened for security reasons. Microsoft was in negotiating a deal to buy the app when Trump made the announcement.
July 31 – Banning TikTok
BREAKING: Trump tells reporters aboard Air Force One he is banning TikTok
— Josh Lederman (@JoshNBCNews) August 1, 2020
Last Friday Trump said he would ban TikTok in the US despite the fact that TikTok claims it has 100 million US users.
Over the weekend, Trump changed his mind and Gave Microsoft until September 15 to close the deal.
The deadline alone is ridiculous.
Now Trump demands Microsoft pay the US Treasury a substantial sum to allow the deal to go through.
Pres. Trump set September 15 as the deadline for TikTok to find a US buyer, or else he’ll shut down the app in the country. In an unusual declaration, Trump also said any deal would have to include a “substantial amount of money” coming to the US Treasury. https://t.co/pACfYwmpD3
— CNN (@CNN) August 3, 2020
Pres. Trump set September 15 as the deadline for TikTok to find a US buyer, or else he’ll shut down the app in the country. In an unusual declaration, Trump also said any deal would have to include a “substantial amount of money” coming to the US Treasury. https://t.co/pACfYwmpD3
— CNN (@CNN) August 3, 2020
Trump demands Microsoft pay off U.S. Treasury to secure TikTok deal https://t.co/3r2W2U1fVP pic.twitter.com/W1ACiog61x
— Gizmodo (@Gizmodo) August 3, 2020
Trump Demands a Chunk of TikTok Sale Price
TechCrunch reports Trump Calls TikTok a Hot Brand, Demands a Chunk of TikTok Sale Price.
After stating last Friday that he’d rather see TikTok banned than sold to a U.S.-based company, Trump changed his tune over the weekend.
Today the president, endorsing a deal between an American company and ByteDance over TikTok, also said that he expects a chunk of the sale price to wind up in the accounts of the American government.
The American president has long struggled with basic economic concepts. For example, who pays tariffs. But to see Trump state that he expects to receive a chunk of a deal between two private companies that he is effectively forcing to the altar is surreal.
Trump’s Explanation
TechCrunch transcribed the pertinent few minutes of Trump’s explanation from this morning’s Hiring American Executive Order Signing, when asked about the weekend call with Microsoft’s Nadella.
We had a great conversation, uh, he called me, to see whether or not, uh, how I felt about it. And I said look, it can’t be controlled, for security reasons, by China. Too big, too invasive. And it can’t be. And here’s the deal. I don’t mind if, whether it’s Microsoft or somebody else — a big company, a secure company, a very American company — buy it.
It’s probably easier to buy the whole thing than to buy 30% of it. ‘Cause I say how do you do 30%? Who’s going to get the name? The name is hot, the brand is hot. And who’s going to get the name? How do you do that if it’s owned by two different companies? So, my personal opinion was, you are probably better off buying the whole thing rather than buying 30% of it. I think buying 30% is complicated.
And, uh, I suggested that he can go ahead, he can try. We set a date, I set a date, of around September 15th, at which point it’s going to be out of business in the United States. But if somebody, whether it’s Microsoft or somebody else, buys it, that’ll be interesting.
I did say that if you buy it, whatever the price is, that goes to whoever owns it, because I guess it’s China, essentially, but more than anything else, I said a very substantial portion of that price is going to have to come into the Treasury of the United States. Because we’re making it possible for this deal to happen. Right now they don’t have any rights, unless we give it to ’em. So if we’re going to give them the rights, then it has to come into, it has to come into this country.
It’s a little bit like the landlord-tenant [relationship]. Uh, without a lease, the tenant has nothing. So they pay what is called “key money” or they pay something. But the United States should be reimbursed, or should be paid a substantial amount of money because without the United States they don’t have anything, at least having to do with the 30%.
So, uh, I told him that. I think we are going to have, uh, maybe a deal is going to be made, it’s a great asset, it’s a great asset. But it’s not a great asset in the United States unless they have the approval of the United States.
So it’ll close down on September 15th, unless Microsoft or somebody else is able to buy it, and work out a deal, an appropriate deal, so the Treasury of the — really the Treasury, I suppose you would say, of the United States, gets a lot of money. A lot of money.
How Would Payments Work?
The Wall Street Journal comments on the Unusual Nature of the TikTok Announcement
“It’s a great asset,” Mr. Trump said of TikTok. “But it’s not a great asset in the United States unless they have the approval of the United States,” he said, reiterating that the Treasury should get “a lot of money.”
The White House referred questions about how a payment would work to the Treasury Department. A Treasury spokeswoman didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The WSJl has a great video of the above transcription if you have access. It’s worth a play.
Surreal or Unconstitutional?
Trump would have legal challenges on banning the app alone, but his latest proposal is absurd.
TechCrunch commented on the “surreal” nature of the proposal.
I suggest a different word.
Telling business owners they have to pay the government a slice of any deal or the government will not allow it is blatantly unconstitutional.
Mish
Unconstitutional Mr. Shedlock? I think NOT. The POTUS has the Legal Obligation to protect U.S. Citizens from Enemies both Foreign & Domestic. CCP China runs ByteDance which owns TikTok & WeChat.
Need I say more Mr. Shedlock?
Actually the USA getting a slice of every foreign deal is common in politics involving foreign companies, and not unconstitutional. Recall Nissan, Toyota, BMW etc had to agree to set up USA based auto plants in the 1980s before being allowed to sell more cars here. TikTok’s sellers agreeing to give a slice to the US government is not that different. I’m against all such concessions, but it doesn’t make them illegal.
The Democrats are 100% behind China and the communist take over of the US.
Democrats are the enemy of the US.
As the United States government continues to infringe upon your privacy rights using digital communications…
See Snowden.
Trust but verify.
So why is anyone surprise about this? I pointed out that Trump operates with the same playbook as Chavez (Venezuela) did. At the time most said impossible because Trump was not a socialist/communist as if authoritarian/despot presidents had a particular political inclination. They will use a political bent that gets them elected. In Venezuela was “social and economic injustice” so socialism/communism fitted. In the US was “racism/anti-elitism/populism/etc he use too many verticals”. The end result in either case is always the same: The country is ruined.
Just call him the Extortionist in Chief
“Telling business owners they have to pay the government a slice of any deal or the government will not allow it is blatantly unconstitutional.”
…
Wait, what? … forgive me I just finished watching The Godfather trilogy …
To call it a trilogy is kind of stretching it! The first two movies were amazing, the third was horrible.
I can only imagine Trump’s outrage and screams if a sitting US President attempted to impose a percentage cut on one of his business deals.
Trump is an oligarch. He thinks he is Putin.
He does not have enough real money to qualify as an oligarch.
He has always fancied himself as better then he is. Trump is like the bully in grade school everyone made fun of and became President. He is way out of his league no matter what he does.
Too fat and sloppy to be pootypoot.
If anyone wants to win the election and energize a new generation of voters, you can steal this slogan: “I’ll unban TikTok”
Nationalizing assets or businesses is a crime that communist regimes typically do at the beginning of their existence. It is sad that the US has embarked on this trajectory. China will have to require a mammoth compensation for this act of arbitrariness, which violates the basic property rights recognized in any civilized society
You have that right!
tRump and cohorts are doing everything against China and Chinese private companies, because deep in his heart he thinks that America and American Companies can no longer compete with Chinese companies. First he uses U.S. government power to kill Huawei for 5G where USA has fallen behind; now Tic-Tok which beats Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube among young generations for social media.
Where is due process for such a governmental intervention? This mad orange gargantuan really thinks and behaves as if he is the King of the World. Is the U.S. political system still working? How longer will american people tolerate such a mad dog to govern them?
This reminds me of Operation Varsity Blues and how those parents didn’t think their kids could get into college on their own merit so they cheated for them. Sad all around.
“now [banning] Tic-Tok which beats Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube among young generations for social media.”
Let’s not forget that China has banned all three of those companies, as well as Twitter and Snapchat. None of them is allowed to operate in China.
Yay, beacon of free market Capitalism and representative Democracy!
It will be interesting to find out how accurate this latest click-bait is.
Microsoft buy TikTok? What exactly does that mean? Their code? Their brand? Some geographic subset of their customer base? Is it another Skype?
The larger question is which way the US goes:
It’s deja vu all over again. Anyone else remember a very similar question more than a half century ago? Remember how some claimed to believe in (1), but were frightened witless by a (2) – a gigantic, monolithic organization that, by virtue of being gigantic, monolithic, and vertically integrated, would crush the free-marketeers. That lean and mean mercantilist organization was, of course, the Soviet Union.
So, it’s fun watching people on different political sides taking the same side when considering that question again. Hopefully, they’ll keep each other very busy so as to not screw up (1).
YES! Why can no one see this? Well, not enough people.
I predict that the deal will crash.
Microsoft, which doesn’t have any social media products and TikTok to might just be the perfect contender. TikTok “supposedly” has 100 million users, so if that’s they would perfect opportunity for Microsoft to carve out another niche for themselves. Why Trump and the Treasury has to be involved? Maybe to fund another shut down for Gates?
Trump is more comfortable playing Investment Banker in Chief than Commander in Chief.
Sounds a bit more like Racketeer in Chief
No difference really.
All stupid people are. Being an “Investment Banker” is, after all, so trivial even Investment Bankers, and Trumps, can do it.
“Investment Banker,” in the Fed era, is simply Newspeak for those who get to collect the biggest welfare check, in return for doing either nothing at all, or at best pure makework.
First Huawei 5G, then Tik Tok. I mean, is there proof that any of them is sending sensitive data to Beijing? Even if the answer is yes, why am I am more comfortable with Beijing knowing my crap than the NSA?
The US simply can’t compete anymore. It’s time to put this lumbering beast to sleep.
Huawei is 50.1% owned by CCP.
Sure, but I work in computers, and as far as I know, it’s impossible to send coherent data when you are at the device level. I mean if Huawei can do magic, are we then to understand that Cisco has been sending data to the US government as well?
Where’s the proof? All these accusations are meant to be consumed by people who don’t know computers.
If a device is on the network, it can send information to anywhere in the world. I don’t know about Cisco but the service providers work with the federal government to monitor the internet for many things. The bottom line here is that companies are not owned by the government whereas in China that is not true.
We bought a Huawei in the Philippines and it works fine (but only there, I’d hesitate to bring in into the USA, and I’ll have to buy another one for the US). I doubt if there’s an overzealous commie in the 50 cent army looking at my dic pics, but if so, I’m kind of flattered, they’re in for a big surprise! :0
Why not?
Getting a cut of the debasement theft, is all the incompetents running everything in financialized dystopias, are ever capable of doing.
Whether it’s Microsoft throwing their share of the Fed loot at grossly overpaying for something they have exactly zero comparative advantage at exploiting as a tech company (meaning, they’ll have their lawyers and paper peddlers exploit it, as well as TikTok’s users, instead. That is, after all easy, so even incompetents on Fed welfare can do it), or Dunce-In-Chief trying to bully his way to a cut of the action as well.. Six of one, half a dozen of the other.Par for the course in Dystopia.
Yep. The only thing really different about this President is that he doesn’t have the sense to know not to talk about his corrupt proposals out loud.
Ah the art of the deal. Go ahead as long as you pay my arbitrarily imposed transaction tax? That is even more moronic than imbibing Lysol.
This Cold War heated up with the Pivot to Asia under Obomber. It’s heating up under the Orange Douche. Next, Creepy Joe will continue it. USAians usually vote for the lesser warmonger but it never matters.
USAians have zero control over policy. This is taxation without representation.
You say you want a revolution well you know we all want to change the world
things are moving fast so we need someone that can think on their feet. you snooze, you lose. haha
Why you would think this was Яussia and he were Tsar Vladimir.
Be prepared people, it will take both republicans and democrats with force of arms to unseat this fat orange madman. For once we will have to work together.