Trump Tries To Save TikTok From Itself

Trump’s brief begging Supremes to save PRC-driven TikTok from the US law requiring divestiture by Jan. 19 may be the supreme stinker of all time in asking the Highest Court to treat our pres-elect as if already president.

The WSJ’s editorial board was not kidding when it recalled how, “The drafters of the US Constitution debated whether one or more chief executives was the best form of gov’t. They settled on one, which has worked out well enough for 235 years. But enter Donald Trump who now wants the Supreme Court to treat him like a second President with Joe Biden so he can save TikTok. That’s the essence of Mr. Trump’s amicus brief in TikTok v. Garland,” which the Justices will hear Jan. 10. The President-elect “implores" the Court to give him a chance to use his “dealmaking” skills to spare TikTok from the Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act that passed by big majorities in both houses of Congress last April.

The editors call the brief “extraordinary” in several ways, “none of them good.” For one, it asks for a “stay,” which the Justices have already denied TikTok & to do so now would set a precedent for future president-elects to “interfere in pending cases. But, more importantly, the Trump brief asks for permission to “rewrite a law he doesn’t like” because it will supposedly hamstring his ability to act under Article II of the Constitution, even though the law strengthens future Presidents’ hands by setting out a process that can be used to restrict other platforms controlled by foreign actors. Moreover, the law in question had been debated in Congress for years, during which TikTok’s threat to national security had been well documented, hence the overwhelming bipartisan vote to force its sale. Among other things, Chinese law itself requires TikTok owners to turn over personal data of users to the Communist Party, while at the same time barring foreign platforms from China. “Yet, Mr. Trump instructs the Court that he deserves this power because he won the election & is a wizard on social media … Really.” Hard to believe the Justices will buy this odorous reasoning.

Davd Soul