I’m a bit confused as to why the UnPopulist is defending the TikTok ban (a flagrantly illiberal, authoritarian move reminiscent of China’s social media crackdowns) & treating SCOTUS as a legitimate authority on the subject when this court has consistently paved the way for illiberalism (Trump v. United States, Trump v. Anderson, etc.); even with Trump’s craven, self-serving motives, it doesn’t thus follow that the ban should’ve been allowed to pass in the first place (see also the analysis by the always insightful Jonathan Hofer: https://blog.independent.org/2024/12/18/censorship-guise-of-security-tiktok-ban-part-i/).
Thanks for your comment. We thought a lot about what constitutes abuse of executive power. It does not mean the executive doing something we disagree with. It means the executive doing something he has no authority to do, whether we agree with it or not. Trump does not have the authority to suspend a law enacted by Congress.
Moreover, given that TIkTok is basically controlled by the Chinese government, I do not agree that it enjoys the protection of the First Amendment, any more than Russian troll farms do. While you would be justified in general skepticism toward the current conservative majority on the Supreme Court, the TikTok ban was approved by the Court unanimously, including the three liberal justices, on precisely the grounds I just gave.
It's my opinion that until the Left can honestly assess itself and why it has lost the trust of the people, it has no real business assessing anyone else. Nobody will take them seriously.
Fabulous- I’ve been wanting a tracker just like this.
I’m a bit confused as to why the UnPopulist is defending the TikTok ban (a flagrantly illiberal, authoritarian move reminiscent of China’s social media crackdowns) & treating SCOTUS as a legitimate authority on the subject when this court has consistently paved the way for illiberalism (Trump v. United States, Trump v. Anderson, etc.); even with Trump’s craven, self-serving motives, it doesn’t thus follow that the ban should’ve been allowed to pass in the first place (see also the analysis by the always insightful Jonathan Hofer: https://blog.independent.org/2024/12/18/censorship-guise-of-security-tiktok-ban-part-i/).
Thanks for your comment. We thought a lot about what constitutes abuse of executive power. It does not mean the executive doing something we disagree with. It means the executive doing something he has no authority to do, whether we agree with it or not. Trump does not have the authority to suspend a law enacted by Congress.
Moreover, given that TIkTok is basically controlled by the Chinese government, I do not agree that it enjoys the protection of the First Amendment, any more than Russian troll farms do. While you would be justified in general skepticism toward the current conservative majority on the Supreme Court, the TikTok ban was approved by the Court unanimously, including the three liberal justices, on precisely the grounds I just gave.
It's my opinion that until the Left can honestly assess itself and why it has lost the trust of the people, it has no real business assessing anyone else. Nobody will take them seriously.