Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

Back in April 2024, when members of Congress actually did things besides (a) robotically following their Dear Leader or (b) acting like a flock of decapitated chickens, they passed a law that gave ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns and operates TikTok, nine months to sell the social media platform.

Joe Biden signed it right away.

The bill has it that the sale was to be complete by January 19, 2025.

There was something of a sweetener in the bill for ByteDance. If there was a sale in process when the clock ran out of time, there was a three-month extension.

On January 19, there was no deal in the offing. 

TikTok went dark.

People throughout the country found themselves confused and bereft. 

But Donald Trump, Sharpie in hand, to the rescue.

Day One he signed a 75-day extension to keep the toks tiking.

That means ByteDance and whomever had until April 5.

Well, that hasn’t worked out, either.

So Trump has signed another 75-day extension.

Two things about this.

1. Congress passed a bill. The then-president signed it. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld the law banning TikTok. Yet Trump has simply chosen to ignore that. And the Republican-led Congress has let him do it. According to an essay published by the National Constitution Center on Article II, Section 3 by Marshall and Prakash, there is something known as the “Take Care Clause.” The authors note: “The Take Care Clause is arguably a major source of presidential power because it seemingly invests the office with broad enforcement authority. Yet, at the same time, the provision also serves as a major limitation on that power because it underscores that the executive is under a duty to faithfully execute the laws of Congress and not disregard them.” (Emphasis added) So what is Congress doing about Trump ignoring this law? Nothing.
2. The name of the bill in question is the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.” That “Foreign Adversary” bit refers to China. The reason it was enacted was because there was concern the Chinese are hoovering up all manner of data about American citizens as well as using the platform to perform acts of undue influence. Said more simply: TikTok represents a NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT—to put it as Trump should put it on Truth Social.

Why is it OK that the president (a) ignores the law and (b) permits a “Foreign Adversary” to have access to an estimated 33% of the U.S. population?

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.