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Red Flags Raised Over Ex-Trump Official’s TikTok Bid

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Former Trump Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin announced Thursday he is putting together a group of investors to buy the highly-influential social media platform TikTok, and it immediately raised red flags.

A House Republican-sponsored bill to force the sale to a U.S. company passed by a wide, bipartisan margin on Wednesday. If it passes in the Senate, and President Joe Biden signs it, Mnuchin, like Elon Musk and Donald Trump, could be in charge of a company whose algorithms affect what information Americans see, how that information is framed, and by whom. Mnuchin just last week said he would be open to working in a second Trump administration.

President Biden reportedly has said he would sign the bill if it gets to his desk.

The House bill, which passed in a 352-65 vote, was sponsored by U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI). Explaining what he said was the need for the legislation, which would ban TikTok in the U.S. if it is not sold to an American company, is its strong impact on younger Americans.

READ MORE: ‘I’ve Been So Busy’: Speaker Johnson Says No Time to Assess Biden Impeachment Evidence

Sky News reported Gallagher “insists there is a need to ban the app because it’s ‘becoming the dominant news platform for Americans under 30’.”

“Mnuchin was in the admin[istration] when Trump initially sought to ban TikTok from U.S. app stores. He argued back then that it should be sold to a U.S. company, while others advocated for an outright ban,” noted CNN’s Kaitlin Collins.

Critics are expressing great concern.

“If you’re worried about what the Chinese might do with that video of your puppy wait until you see what a Trump Administration would do with the intel community, law enforcement, your privacy rights, to anyone who spoke out against him, in coordination w/right wing tech moguls,” warned foreign policy, national security, and political affairs analyst and commentator David Rothkopf.

READ MORE: ‘Like the Nazis Did’: Critic Slams Trump Plans to Remake US Education System

Media Matters’ Andrew Lawrence sarcastically wrote on X, “rest easy everyone, instead of china exploiting your info itll just be a bunch of former trump admin goblins doing it instead.” He added, “i dont think congress should force an influential social media app to be sold to their political cronies.”

BBC political political analyst Mary Anne Marsh wrote, also sarcastically, “Oh, so the Saudis and China can control @tiktok_us. No national security concerns whatsoever…I mean the Saudis only gave Mnuchin $1 billion then gave @jaredkushner $2 billion when they walked out of the @WhiteHouse…”

Attorney Luppe B. Luppen, co-author of a book on the future of the Democratic Party, observed: “Having seen what happens when a Trump-aligned rich guy buys a social media network, I would not want my government to have a hand in bringing that about again.”

Harvard Law Cyberlaw Clinic Instructor Alejandra Caraballo posited, “Ask yourself why Republicans keep lining up to try and buy Tiktok. Larry Ellison at Oracle, Bobby Kotick, and now Trump treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin. They want to weaponize it to push conservative views like Elon and Dems are complicit in it.”

Democratic strategist and senior advisor to former Obama cabinet secretary Julian Castro said, “Democrats shouldn’t help Republicans force the sale of another major media platform to right-wing billionaires.”

See the video above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘I’d Rather Sit Down With Hannibal Lecter’: Johnson’s Grip on Speakership Slips Further

 

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The GOP’s Secret Weapon? A ‘Known Unknown’ That Could Swing the Midterms: Columnist

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Some political experts are predicting a sweeping “blue wave” this November, with Democrats poised to reclaim the House — and possibly even the Senate — as Americans grapple with soaring grocery and gas prices, while the Commander in Chief pours billions into what critics call a war of choice in Iran.

But the GOP has what could amount to a secret weapon, a great “known unknown,” that could help dash Democrats’ dreams, according to Henry Olsen, who writes in a Washington Post opinion piece, “there remains an X factor in the race: Trump’s $300 million in campaign cash.”

He calls it a possible “game changer,” especially given just how little cash Democrats have by comparison.

That $300 million belongs to a Trump supporting Super PAC controlled by close allies of President Donald Trump. And it’s not just $300 million. Olsen suggests that with continued fundraising, MAGA Inc., the Trump Super PAC, could be sitting on even more cash.

“Add to that the successes of the Republican National Committee, which had over $109 million on hand at the end of February. That’s so much that in the most recent reporting period, the committee earned over $7 million simply from interest and dividends alone, only a few million less than the Democratic National Committee raised in total during that time.”

READ MORE: ‘Big Embarrassment’: Trump Team Mocked After Admitting Lack of Evidence Against Fed Chair

He says it’s possible Team Trump could have half a billion dollars in total at its disposal by the November election.

Is it a “game changer”?

Olsen writes, “this is the thing we know we don’t know, to borrow a useful category from former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The big question is how much all that money matters given today’s polarized politics, because the winners in November aren’t going to be based on dollars raised but votes cast.”

One option for all that money could be for Trump to use “his cash haul to go big, define his achievements and contrast them with the Democrats via a major, partisan-focused advertising campaign? Essentially: ‘Vote Republican.'”

For that strategy to work, Olsen writes, Trump would need to do two things.

First, “he’d have to place well-crafted, coordinated ads in the largest media markets in targeted states and districts. That would be expensive even with sophisticated analytics helping to target the spots.”

And second, Trump would have to exhibit “unusual personal discipline.”

“His campaign speeches would need to hew to the themes in the ads so that his earned media would support the paid media message,” says Olsen. “He was able to do that in 2024, but his impulsive side seems to have returned in force since he took the oath of office. All that money would be wasted if Trump were giving the media a different story to dissect on a daily basis.”

READ MORE: ‘Doing This for You’: White House Mocked Over ‘Ridiculous’ Pitch to Young Voters

 

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‘Doing This for You’: White House Mocked Over ‘Ridiculous’ Pitch to Young Voters

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The White House is facing sharp criticism over its latest message to young voters who cast a ballot for President Donald Trump based on specific campaign promises.

Journalist Gabe Fleischer told White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday that in his reporting, he speaks a lot to young voters, “many of whom voted for President Trump for the first time in 2024, who were hoping to have no more wars and to have lower prices.”

“Now, with a war taking place, and with gas prices going up, I’m curious what President Trump’s message would be to those voters who kind of swung into his coalition in 2024, but maybe don’t feel the administration’s going as they’d expected.”

Leavitt did not pause before saying to those young voters, “President Trump is doing this for you.”

“He’s doing this for young people, so that we are no longer threatened by a rogue terrorist regime in the Middle East that seeks to kill the brave men and women who serve in our country in the Middle East, many of them young people themselves, young men and women who serve this country honorably in uniform and have been threatened, killed, and maimed by the rogue Iranian terrorist regime for 47 years,” she said.

READ MORE: ‘Big Embarrassment’: Trump Team Mocked After Admitting Lack of Evidence Against Fed Chair

Leavitt added that, “President Trump finally had the courage to step up and do what’s right for our national security, our homeland security.”

She called the spiking price of gas a “temporary short-term fluctuation,” which, “the president has said, once these combat operations are over, this administration is going to continue to unleash American energy dominance.”

Leavitt also referred to Trump’s war in Iran as a “short term combat operation,” and promised gas prices are “gonna go right back down when this is over.”

Some experts predict gas prices will not return to pre-war levels until at least the end of 2027.

Critics slammed the press secretary’s statements.

“She’s lying. It’s all they have left at this point. Lies,” said former Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh.

“The best thing you can do for young people is not send them to die in a stupid war,” commented U.S. Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), a former Marine who served in the Iraq War.

“Trump is sending young Americans to die in a pointless, unnecessary war for you. He’s doing this to help young people. Ridiculous,” remarked Navy veteran Jared Ryan Sears, who writes at The Progressive Capitalist.

READ MORE: ‘Trump’s Intern’ Fetterman Under Fire — ‘Needs to Go’ Say Critics

 

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‘Trump’s Intern’ Fetterman Under Fire — ‘Needs to Go’ Say Critics

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U.S. Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) is once again under fire — this time for his vote confirming Markwayne Mullin to become the Homeland Security Secretary — and among his critics are those who helped send him to Capitol Hill.

“John promised that he was going to go to D.C. and be Democrats’ 51st vote. And instead he’s gone to D.C. and is behaving like Donald Trump’s f— — intern,” Pennsylvania Democratic State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta told The Philadelphia Inquirer in an interview. Kenyatta had endorsed Fetterman’s Senate bid after losing to him in the primary.

“He punches down at his constituents and refuses to hold accountable the one person we elected him to hold accountable,” Kenyatta also told the Inquirer. “What I see from John Fetterman, unfortunately, is that he’s a weak man’s imitation of a tough man. A tough man doesn’t name-call his neighbors and the people that elected him when they’re asking him genuine questions.”

Kenyatta, the Inquirer noted, is part of a “growing chorus of Pennsylvania Democrats who say Fetterman has not only abandoned” his constituents, but he “is actively doing the opposite of what he told them he would do in a divided Washington.”

READ MORE: ‘Big Embarrassment’: Trump Team Mocked After Admitting Lack of Evidence Against Fed Chair

Former U.S. Rep. Susan Wild (D-PA) expressed her disappointment with Senator Fetterman after his vote to confirm Mullin.

“People worked so hard for Fetterman and he kicked them in the teeth,” she wrote last week on X. “On to 2028 when we elect a real Dem.”

Two days later, she asked, “Has Fetterman said one word about Trump’s horrible Truth Social post about Robert Muller dying? Numerous prominent Rs have commented about [Robert] Muller’s lifetime of public service.”

President Trump had commented, “Good, I’m glad he’s dead,” upon learning of the late special counsel’s passing.

The Inquirer added that U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), “after taking the rare step of asking her social media followers to call Fetterman’s office to urge him to oppose Mullin — said in a central Pennsylvania forum on Thursday that it was easier to work with Pennsylvania Republican U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick than with Fetterman.”

“Once again Sen Fetterman shows why he is Trump’s favorite Democrat. He needs to go,” U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) said of Fetterman.

READ MORE: ‘Heightened Threat’: New Memo Demands DHS Return to Preventing Terrorism

 

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