What's funny about forcing China to sell Tik Tok is that Democrats overwhelmingly support this because they really believe that Tik Tok is a threat to the Republic, whereas Republicans aren't even hiding their interest in owning it themselves. Next up: Stephen Mnuchin, a former Trump administration official most famous for posing with money, who wants to lead an investment group in purchasing the social platform.
During an interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box," Mnuchin, who served under President Donald Trump, said he had spoken "to a bunch of people" about creating an investor group that would purchase the popular social media company. He offered no details about who may be in the group or about TikTok's possible valuation.
The notion that Tik Tok is where the kids are, and that its owner could use it to surveil and influence them, lurks behind these discussions and the incipient rush to own it. A lot of people in journalism recognize that young people go to Tik Tok for news and they hate it. In the history of things that might convince the media business to do stupid, self-destructive things in pursuit of eliminating an upstart, Tik Tok has it made. And all the while congressional Democrats will sit smiling beatifically and drooling, happy to have addressed a NAtiOnAl sEcUriTy CoNcErN by handing it over to the Mar-a-Lago crowd.
