BREAKDOWN: Is TikTok Bill PATRIOT ACT 2.0?

Breaking Points
14 Mar 202424:35

Summary

TLDRThis episode covers a range of significant topics including the potential U.S. ban or forced sale of TikTok following new legislation passed by the House, implicating national security concerns with parent company ByteDance. Discussions extend to charges in Georgia against Donald Trump and RFK Jr.'s vice presidential candidate announcement. The show also tackles Ben Shapiro's controversial views on Social Security and retirement, Don Lemon's abrupt firing by Elon Musk, and an insightful interview with Dan Foote, former envoy to Haiti. The debate encompasses the balance between national security and free speech, the impact of foreign ownership on American sovereignty, and the potential repercussions for TikTok users and American democracy.

Takeaways

  • 🙂 The show covers a variety of topics, including the potential TikTok ban, charges against Donald Trump in Georgia, RFK Jr.'s vice presidential candidate announcement, Ben Shapiro's stance on Social Security, and an interview with Dan Foote regarding Haiti.
  • 🔔 The House passed legislation that could lead to a TikTok ban or force a sale if ByteDance does not comply.
  • 📝 The bill has bipartisan support but faces opposition mainly from Freedom Caucus and libertarian members.
  • 🛸 Critics argue the bill might grant excessive power to the president and could be a threat to free speech and access to information.
  • 📲 Proponents claim TikTok poses a national security threat due to its ties to the Chinese Communist Party and seek to limit foreign adversary control over American information channels.
  • 🛠 The debate touches on issues of national sovereignty, reciprocal trade, and the balance between security and freedom.
  • 📸 Concerns are raised about the bill's broad scope, potentially impacting other apps and setting a precedent for government control over internet platforms.
  • 💰 The potential TikTok sale could be a significant financial event, with implications for US-China relations and global tech business dynamics.
  • 💬 The conversation highlights a broader critique of US tech policy, monopolistic practices, and the role of government in regulating the digital space.
  • 📚 The discussion underscores the importance of democratic processes and public engagement in shaping policies that impact the digital landscape and personal freedoms.

Q & A

  • What was the main reason the House passed a piece of legislation related to TikTok?

    -The House passed legislation aimed at either forcing a sale of TikTok or banning it if ByteDance, its parent company, does not agree to sell it, due to national security concerns.

  • How did the House vote on the TikTok legislation?

    -The vote was overwhelmingly in favor, with 352 supporting and 65 opposing the legislation.

  • What were some of the charges thrown out in the state of Georgia regarding Donald Trump?

    -The state of Georgia threw out critical charges related to Donald Trump's case, specifically connected to a phone call with Brad Raffensperger.

  • Who is RFK Jr. considering for his vice presidential candidate?

    -RFK Jr. is considering announcing his vice presidential candidate next week, with interesting names on the list such as Aaron Rodgers and Jesse Ventura.

  • What controversial stance did Ben Shapiro take regarding Social Security and retirement age?

    -Ben Shapiro sparked controversy by coming out against Social Security and advocating for an increase in the retirement age.

  • What happened to Don Lemon after interviewing Elon Musk?

    -Don Lemon conducted an interview with Elon Musk and was unceremoniously fired by Elon in relation to his new partnership on Twitter before it even began.

  • Who was the guest discussed in the script and what was his significance?

    -The guest was Dan Foote, a former envoy to Haiti who resigned in protest a few years ago. His resignation letter predicted the consequences of Biden's policy towards Haiti, which have unfolded over the last couple of years.

  • What argument did Congressman Mike Gallagher present in favor of the TikTok legislation?

    -Congressman Gallagher argued that TikTok is a threat to national security because it's owned by ByteDance, which he claims does the bidding of the Chinese Communist Party. The bill aims to force TikTok to disassociate from CCP control.

  • What were Congressman Thomas Massie's objections to the TikTok bill?

    -Congressman Massie raised First Amendment concerns, stating Americans have the right to view information and criticized the bill for potentially giving the president the power to decide which apps or websites Americans can access.

  • What was the broader concern about the bill's potential impact beyond TikTok mentioned in the script?

    -The concern was that the bill, due to its broad definition of 'application', could potentially allow future presidents to ban or restrict other applications or companies, not just TikTok, thus impacting more than initially intended.

Outlines

00:00

📰 Episode Introduction and Array of Topics

The hosts introduce the show with enthusiasm, mentioning Crystal's absence and outlining an array of diverse topics to be discussed. They dive into legislative actions on TikTok, critical charges in Georgia against Donald Trump, potential vice presidential candidates for RFK Jr., Ben Shapiro's controversial stance on Social Security, and an intriguing interview scenario involving Don Lemon and Elon Musk. Additionally, there's a guest spotlight on Dan Foty, an envoy to Haiti, providing insights into the implications of Biden's policy on Haiti.

05:01

🚫 Debating the TikTok Legislation

The narrative shifts to a deep dive into the TikTok legislation passed by the House, aiming to force a sale or ban TikTok if ByteDance doesn't comply. The hosts analyze the bill's content, discuss its bipartisan support, and present arguments for and against it, highlighting concerns about First Amendment implications and presidential powers. They also touch on the broader context of US tech policy, its failures, and the impact of empowering tech oligarchs, setting the stage for a nuanced debate on the bill's implications.

10:03

🔍 Examining the TikTok Bill's Implications

The discussion further scrutinizes the TikTok bill, exploring its potential reach beyond TikTok to other applications, and the precise mechanisms through which the bill could impact national security. The hosts dissect various arguments, including those by FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr and journalist Michael Tracy, to shed light on the bill's scope, its limitations, and the safeguards against misuse. They also consider the bill's implications for reciprocal trade and its potential geopolitical consequences.

15:04

📱 The Geopolitical and Corporate Dynamics of the TikTok Sale

The dialogue delves into the complexities of enforcing the TikTok bill, the possible sale of TikTok, and the geopolitical interplay involving China. The hosts discuss the bill's enforcement mechanisms, ByteDance's stance, potential buyers, and the challenges posed by Chinese regulatory approval. They examine the broader geopolitical tensions, the inconsistency of market fairness, and the strategic maneuvers of both the US and China in the context of global tech dominance.

20:04

🤔 Reflecting on Government Trust and the Power of Public Opinion

The conversation concludes with a reflective debate on the trust in government, public opinion's power, and the democratic process. The hosts ponder the implications of banning TikTok, the potential public backlash, and the importance of reciprocal trade principles. They also touch on the ability of the public to influence policy through democratic means, encouraging viewer engagement and subscription support for their platform, emphasizing the importance of independent media.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡TikTok

TikTok is a social media platform owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. The video script discusses legislation passed by the House of Representatives that could either force a sale of TikTok to a company not under foreign adversary control or lead to its ban in the United States. This topic is central to the video's theme, highlighting concerns over national security, data privacy, and the influence of foreign-owned platforms on American users.

💡ByteDance

ByteDance is the Chinese parent company of TikTok, mentioned in the script as being under the influence of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The potential requirement for ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a ban in the U.S. is a significant part of the discussion, raising questions about the relationship between tech companies and national governments, as well as issues of market access and reciprocity.

💡Legislation

Legislation, in this context, refers to a piece of law passed by the House of Representatives aiming to address national security concerns related to TikTok. The script details the bipartisan support for the bill, its intentions to protect U.S. national security by limiting foreign adversary control over social media platforms, and the debates surrounding its implications for free speech and governmental power.

💡National Security

National security is a key theme in the video, particularly concerning TikTok's potential to be used by foreign adversaries to influence or gather data on American citizens. The legislation aims to mitigate these risks by forcing TikTok's sale to a non-adversarial owner or banning it, emphasizing the significance of safeguarding national interests in the digital age.

💡Foreign Adversary

The term 'foreign adversary' is crucial to understanding the legislation's targeting criteria, referring to countries like China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran, which are identified by the U.S. as posing national security threats. The script explains that only companies controlled by these governments would be affected by the proposed TikTok restrictions, highlighting the geopolitical tensions underlying the issue.

💡Free Speech

Free speech concerns are raised in the script in opposition to the legislation, with some arguing that banning TikTok could infringe on Americans' First Amendment rights. The debate touches on the balance between national security interests and maintaining open access to information and platforms, reflecting broader discussions about government regulation of digital spaces.

💡Data Privacy

Data privacy is an underlying issue in the TikTok debate, with concerns that user data could be accessed by ByteDance and potentially shared with the Chinese government. The video script addresses these fears in the context of national security and the importance of protecting American users' personal information from foreign surveillance.

💡Bipartisan Support

Bipartisan support, as mentioned in the script, refers to the wide-ranging political agreement across both major parties in the U.S. for the legislation concerning TikTok. This demonstrates a shared concern for national security issues related to foreign control of social media, despite differing opinions on the specifics of the solution.

💡Reciprocal Trade

Reciprocal trade is discussed in the context of fairness in market access between countries. The script mentions U.S. companies' inability to operate freely in China as a justification for the legislation against TikTok, highlighting concerns over the balance of economic and technological exchanges between nations.

💡Critical Infrastructure

Critical infrastructure refers to essential systems and assets crucial to a country's security and economic well-being. In the script, the comparison between TikTok and other cases like Huawei and US Steel underscores the importance of controlling foreign influence over key industries and technologies for national security.

Highlights

Good morning and introduction to the show with an array of topics.

Discussion on legislation passed by the House that could either force a sale or ban TikTok.

Analysis of state of Georgia throwing out critical charges on the Donald Trump case.

RFK Jr potentially announcing his vice presidential candidate with interesting names on the list.

Ben Shapiro's controversial stance on Social Security and retirement age.

Don Lemon's interview with Elon Musk and subsequent firing before a partnership on Twitter began.

Introduction of guest Dan Foty, the envoy to Haiti who resigned in protest.

Detailed breakdown of the House vote on the bill to potentially ban TikTok.

Discussion on the bipartisan nature of the support and opposition to the TikTok bill.

Congressman Mike Gallagher's case for the bill, emphasizing national security concerns.

Congressman Thomas Massie's case against the bill, highlighting First Amendment implications.

Debate on the potential overreach and implications of the legislation beyond TikTok.

Discussion on the sovereignty and reciprocal trade principles related to the TikTok bill.

Analysis of the specific conditions and exceptions within the TikTok bill legislation.

Conclusion and reflections on the role of government, democracy, and the potential impact of the TikTok bill.

Transcripts

play00:03

good morning everybody happy Thursday we

play00:05

have an amazing show for everybody today

play00:07

extra amazing bro show people live for

play00:09

the pound there it's good to see you

play00:10

Ryan it's going to be amazing that's

play00:12

right it's going to be amazing it's

play00:13

Crystal is off today but we still have

play00:14

an amazing array of topics I got to do

play00:17

the tough part I actually got to set up

play00:18

this damn show so what are we covering

play00:19

today Tik Tok so the house passed a

play00:22

piece of legislation that would either

play00:23

force a sale or ban Tik Tok if their

play00:25

parent company bik dance does not agree

play00:27

to sell it we're going to talk about

play00:28

that what exactly is in the bill who is

play00:31

for it who against it we're going to

play00:32

present all sides maybe we'll have a

play00:33

little bit of a debate here state of

play00:35

Georgia also throwing out some very

play00:37

critical charges on the Donald Trump

play00:39

case down there specifically actually

play00:41

related to that quote perfect phone call

play00:43

with Brad raffensberger so excited to

play00:45

break some of that down RFK Jr uh Making

play00:48

Waves possibly announcing his vice well

play00:50

definitely announcing his vice

play00:51

presidential candidate next week some

play00:53

interesting names there on the list

play00:55

Aaron Rogers Jessie Ventura all kinds of

play00:57

different folks Ben Shapiro uh by his

play01:00

admission lighting the internet on Fire

play01:01

coming out against Social Security and

play01:03

the retirement age let's just say

play01:06

interesting to say the least Ryan in

play01:07

particular is going to break that one

play01:08

down and then Don Lemon uh dropping an

play01:11

interview or doing an interview with

play01:13

Elon Musk and unceremoniously being

play01:15

fired by Elon with his new partnership

play01:18

on Twitter before it even began so hilar

play01:22

hilarity ensued for every party involved

play01:24

and then Ryan you've got a great guest

play01:25

for us today his name is Dan fot yeah he

play01:27

was the envoy to Haiti who resigned

play01:29

protest a couple years ago if you read

play01:31

his resignation letter what he said

play01:34

would happen as a result of Biden's

play01:35

policy towards Haiti it's precisely what

play01:37

has unfolded for the last couple years

play01:39

well I'm excited to talk to him you in

play01:40

particular have been such a fantastic

play01:42

resource on Haiti so I'm really really

play01:43

glad that we could have you in the chair

play01:45

today so all right let's go ahead and

play01:46

start with Tik oh before I get to that

play01:48

of course if you want to be a premium

play01:49

subscriber breakingpoints oncom support

play01:51

our work we've got all that extra

play01:53

special stuff that is coming down the

play01:54

pipeline just had a meeting about it

play01:55

yesterday I can't give away too much

play01:57

can't give away too much but big things

play01:59

you become a premium subscriber it's not

play02:01

going to happen that's right and that's

play02:02

right unless you become a premium

play02:03

subscriber and you're going to be the

play02:04

first to know about it as always so

play02:06

let's go ahead and start with Tik Tok so

play02:08

there was a major legislation uh passed

play02:10

the House of Representatives yesterday

play02:12

let's go and put this up there on the

play02:14

screen how each House member voted on

play02:16

the bill that could ban Tik Tok overall

play02:19

it was a pretty overwhelming majority

play02:20

that went ahead and pass you had 352 uh

play02:23

votes that supported you had 65 votes

play02:26

that opposed in terms of the breakdown

play02:29

155 Democrats voted yes uh GOP 197 50

play02:33

Democrats voted no 15 Republicans voted

play02:36

no there were 14 overall who did not

play02:38

vote and only one person who voted

play02:40

present uh that one person is yasine

play02:42

Crockett I wonder what her objection or

play02:44

not objection to the bill was but anyway

play02:46

so that's the overall breakdown in terms

play02:48

of the people who voted no and who are

play02:50

Republicans I think this is pretty

play02:52

noteworthy a lot of them were Freedom

play02:53

caucus more libertarian types we have

play02:55

Andy bigs Dan Bishop Warren Davidson

play02:58

Matt Gates margorie Taylor green clay

play03:00

Higgins and uh let's see Nancy mace

play03:03

Thomas Massie Tom mclin talk Alex Mooney

play03:06

Barry Moore Scott Perry David schwier

play03:09

and Greg stuie so

play03:10

disproportionately uh kind of the

play03:12

dissident right more Maga libertarian

play03:15

Freedom caucus exactly a pretty

play03:17

bipartisan I would say in terms of the

play03:20

support now there's been a lot of

play03:21

discussion on what the hell is in this

play03:23

bill or not we're going to break that

play03:25

down but I thought it would be useful

play03:26

for everyone to present the cases for

play03:29

and against by kind of the two major

play03:31

legislative Champions uh on either side

play03:33

first is going to be Congressman Mike

play03:35

Gallagher who co-sponsored and authored

play03:37

the legislation here's what he had to

play03:39

say in his case for the bill Tik Tok is

play03:41

a threat to our national security

play03:43

because it is owned by bite Dan which

play03:46

does the bidding of the Chinese

play03:47

Communist party we know this because

play03:49

bite Dan leadership says so and because

play03:51

Chinese Law requires it this bill

play03:54

therefore forces Tik Tock to break up

play03:57

with the Chinese Communist party it does

play03:59

not

play04:00

apply to American companies it only

play04:03

applies to companies subject to the

play04:05

control of foreign adversaries defined

play04:07

by Congress it says nothing about

play04:10

election interference and cannot be

play04:11

turned against any American social media

play04:14

platform it does not impact websites in

play04:17

general the only impacted sites are

play04:19

those associated with foreign adversary

play04:22

apps such as Tik tock.com it can never

play04:25

be used to penalize individuals the text

play04:28

explicitly prohibits that that and it

play04:30

cannot cannot be used to censor speech

play04:33

it takes no position at all on the

play04:35

content of speech only foreign adversary

play04:39

control foreign adversary control of

play04:43

what is becoming the dominant news

play04:45

platform for Americans under 30 hang on

play04:49

to that foreign adversary that's going

play04:50

to be a line of contention let's hear

play04:52

from Congressman Thomas Massie who laid

play04:53

out the case against the bill let's take

play04:55

a listen they've described the Tik Tock

play04:58

application as a Rojan horse but there's

play05:01

some of us who feel that either

play05:03

intentionally or unintentionally this

play05:05

legislation to ban Tik Tok is actually a

play05:08

trojan horse some of us are concerned

play05:11

that there are First Amendment

play05:12

implications here Americans have the

play05:14

right to view information we don't need

play05:17

to be protected by the government from

play05:20

information some of us just don't want

play05:22

the president picking which apps we can

play05:24

put on our phones or which websites that

play05:26

we can visit we don't think that's

play05:28

appropriate we also think it's dangerous

play05:30

to give the president that kind of power

play05:33

to give him the power to decide what

play05:35

Americans can see on their phones and

play05:37

their computers to give him that sort of

play05:40

discretion we also think is dangerous

play05:43

now people say that this Tik Tock ban

play05:45

will only apply to Tik Tock or maybe

play05:48

another company that pops up just like

play05:50

Tik Tock but the bill is written so

play05:52

broadly that the president could abuse

play05:55

that discretion and include other

play05:57

companies that aren't just social media

play05:59

companies okay so that's where it is

play06:01

Ryan I've talked a lot here so give us

play06:03

your reaction what do you think I mean

play06:05

I've got a couple different reactions

play06:06

one I think you can't even respond to

play06:08

which is that uh okay I can understand

play06:11

why no country would want a different

play06:14

country controlling its news environment

play06:17

like f like you wouldn't want kind of

play06:19

Russia owning NBC news or whatever take

play06:21

Russia out of it let's just say any any

play06:23

China Japan country fine even in neutral

play06:25

Brazil all right I love Brazil like from

play06:27

the perspective of US National Security

play06:29

interests I can see the argument mhm I

play06:31

don't care like I'm not a part of US

play06:34

National Security interests and I think

play06:36

most people who use Tik Tok also don't

play06:38

care and I think particularly with what

play06:41

the US has done with its hegemony around

play06:44

the world since World War II it has not

play06:47

earned the kind of moral credit among a

play06:49

lot of Americans to say you know what so

play06:51

you say you need these extraordinary

play06:53

powers to crack down on on my social

play06:55

media apps so that you can continue to

play06:58

uh do what you been doing for the last

play07:00

50 to 70 years around the world no no

play07:03

thanks let let chairman she have a shot

play07:05

uh so here's what I would say in

play07:06

response Ryan is that take National

play07:08

Security out of it I believe very

play07:10

strongly in US markets and in our

play07:12

principle of sovereignty and reciprocal

play07:13

trade so for example President Biden

play07:16

yesterday came out against the

play07:17

acquisition of us Steel by neone Steel

play07:20

well Japan is our one of our great

play07:23

allies I mean unlike the Europeans they

play07:25

actually produce things and you know are

play07:26

important to the global economy uh and

play07:29

they you know also are willing to defend

play07:31

ourselves if we ever give them the

play07:32

ability so there's a lot going on for

play07:35

Japan I love Japan I don't see any

play07:36

forese any problem in the future from a

play07:39

national security perspective that said

play07:41

we can't allow a Japanese company to own

play07:43

us steel us steel we recognize 100% as

play07:46

critical infrastructure and I wonder

play07:47

where you draw the line so for example

play07:49

Huawei Huawei uh which was banned by the

play07:52

Trump Administration from critical

play07:54

access to Telecom so in that scenario

play07:58

like I mean seems to make sense to me we

play08:00

have critical infrastructure the wirings

play08:03

literally of us Communications well

play08:06

there doesn't seem to be all that much

play08:07

of a substantive difference between the

play08:09

two and really when it comes down to

play08:12

again even taking National Security out

play08:13

of it Baseline fairness level American

play08:15

companies can't do business in China

play08:17

even if you want to do business in China

play08:19

you have to have a Chinese subsidiary

play08:20

that owns 51% our tech companies are

play08:22

completely banned over there you may not

play08:24

like the tech companies I don't uh but

play08:27

they're at least under our jurisdiction

play08:28

they're US citizens they're subject to

play08:30

US law Tik Tok is and bike dance are not

play08:33

subject to any of that uh I will give

play08:35

the counter case and I would like for

play08:36

you to expound on some of this uh

play08:38

Michael Tracy I think has done the best

play08:40

job of uh overlaying some of the biggest

play08:42

concerns within the bill let's go put

play08:43

this up there on the screen he says here

play08:46

are some of the extensive points I have

play08:47

raised about this bill itself the bill

play08:49

goes well beyond Banning Tik Tok

play08:50

targeting any quote website desktop

play08:52

application mobile application or

play08:53

augmented or immersive technology

play08:55

application claimed to be a quote

play08:57

foreign adversary controlled that

play08:58

includes China China Russia North Korea

play09:00

and Iran he says I agree with

play09:02

Congressman Warren Davidson who pointed

play09:03

out in his floor speech that the wide

play09:05

ranging definition of application could

play09:07

be attempt future attempts to prohibit W

play09:09

other widely used apps like telegram the

play09:11

bill authorizes the future expulsion

play09:13

actions to be taken unilaterally by the

play09:16

president provided that he determines

play09:17

that an application preventing a

play09:19

significant threat to National Security

play09:21

of the US he says talks specifically

play09:23

about the president possibly making

play09:24

unilateral determination I quibble

play09:26

actually with Michael's definition here

play09:28

and he says I don't support hand radical

play09:29

new speech of bridging powers to either

play09:31

Biden or to Donald Trump go ahead Ryan

play09:34

so the broader point that Michael is

play09:36

making is one that you need to take you

play09:38

know into serious consideration which is

play09:41

be careful what power you give to the

play09:43

United States government as you should I

play09:45

agree when whenever Congress uh you know

play09:48

says like look I promise this is this is

play09:51

all we care about just this just this

play09:52

one little thing because what you're

play09:54

saying is is reasonable like every

play09:55

country should you know be able to have

play09:58

sovereignty over its critical

play10:00

infrastructure if if you don't you don't

play10:02

really have democracy because you don't

play10:04

have a country yeah you wouldn't have a

play10:05

country because you know as a democratic

play10:07

public you elect representatives who

play10:10

then are going to execute the expression

play10:13

of the will of that public but if they

play10:15

can't actually do that if they don't

play10:16

have the levers because some other

play10:18

country has the levers yeah then you

play10:20

don't have a then you don't have a

play10:21

country anymore so fine I get Now

play10:23

setting aside whether I support the us

play10:26

being a country and like given

play10:28

everything it's done around the world

play10:30

okay yeah okay fine that makes sense

play10:33

from a kind of basic level but as

play10:36

Michael is saying what else does this

play10:38

allow the government to do uh and do we

play10:41

trust the government to stay within the

play10:42

lines so for instance is telegram next

play10:45

telegram founded by a Russian uh who now

play10:49

has I think he fled Russia in

play10:51

2014 I think he now has dual French and

play10:54

emirati citizenship so Emirates are

play10:56

currently our friends so or the French

play10:58

right so would qualify under the bill

play11:01

he's Russian he's he's got a Russian

play11:03

name well he is about to IPO his company

play11:05

and so that means he would be publicly

play11:06

traded which means it actually wouldn't

play11:07

even be subject to this but and that's

play11:09

kind of what it gets so if Tik Tok goes

play11:11

public then it's then it's cool okay

play11:13

well okay that's up to bite dance you

play11:14

know bite dance hey if you're you are

play11:16

welcome to actually publicly trade here

play11:18

on the New York Stock Exchange and bring

play11:20

your company into full compliance with

play11:22

us law guess what they will never do

play11:25

that because they are controlled again

play11:27

and owned by the Chinese and I don't

play11:29

even care about that you you you run

play11:32

your country the way you want I'm not

play11:33

saying we should democratize China or

play11:35

whatever I don't care what the Chinese

play11:36

want to do in their own country my point

play11:39

is only that if you look at this from

play11:41

Bas basic level and even with the bill I

play11:43

completely understand look I came out

play11:46

for example restrict act do you remember

play11:48

that one the restrict act this the

play11:49

previous iteration this the previous

play11:51

iteration of the Tik Tok band it would

play11:52

have given broad authority to the US

play11:55

government to basically designate the

play11:57

president solely to unilaterally declare

play11:59

any application as a threat to uh US

play12:02

National Security absolutely no way

play12:05

however I have read this bill it's only

play12:06

12 pages long and actually I'm going to

play12:08

ask my team we're going to put a link to

play12:10

the bill in the description I want

play12:11

everybody to go and read it for

play12:13

themselves 12 Pages tiny because they

play12:14

only use third of the page it's really

play12:16

not big like it's it's not long triple

play12:18

space only you know what maybe a

play12:20

thousand words or something my

play12:21

monologues are longer than St bill it's

play12:22

not hard to understand friend of mine

play12:24

Brendan Carr he's an FCC commissioner he

play12:26

put together kind of a rebuttal to some

play12:29

of these arguments let's put this up

play12:30

there I'm going to read from some of

play12:31

them he says quote if you are an

play12:33

individual user this bill confers zero

play12:35

Authority I think that's very important

play12:36

because you're not going after Tik Tok

play12:38

users specifically second this bill

play12:40

applies only to Applications controlled

play12:42

by one of four foreign adversary

play12:43

governments previously codified into law

play12:45

by Congress China Iran North Korea or

play12:48

Russia the bill is clear that it is not

play12:50

enough to Simply wave operations there

play12:53

or to do business there it must be

play12:54

controlled by one of those four

play12:56

governments I want to really spend a lot

play12:58

of time on this because this is where I

play12:59

think Michael gets it completely wrong

play13:01

one of four foreign adversary

play13:03

governments as again codified into law

play13:05

by Congress the bill does not say so for

play13:08

example if President Biden Wanted let's

play13:10

make up a country uh Zimbabwe if

play13:13

President Biden wanted to just say

play13:15

Zimbabwe is now a threat to National

play13:17

Security it would require Congress to

play13:19

actually codify into law that Zimbabwe

play13:22

is now a foreign aders foreign adversary

play13:24

control government now do I trust

play13:26

Congress 100% no I don't trust Congress

play13:28

do I trust the president Trump Biden

play13:30

other absolutely not my point though is

play13:33

that it is not unilateral in the way

play13:36

that the restrict Act was and it would

play13:39

require at least theoretically

play13:41

Democratic agreement to confer foreign

play13:44

adversary status this is where I've seen

play13:46

a lot of people who who are like well

play13:48

Rumble and uh Twitter are next it's like

play13:50

hey guys no they're not first of all

play13:52

Rumble is a publicly traded company you

play13:54

can go and look who owns their shares or

play13:56

not I actually looked it up right before

play13:58

we went guess what it's not 20%

play13:59

controlled which is the threshold for

play14:02

foreign uh ownership that's number one

play14:04

number two uh Saudi Arabia for example

play14:06

owns I forget some small stake in elon's

play14:09

Twitter well first Saudi Arabia is not

play14:11

on that list second even if they were

play14:14

it's not up to 20% and my other take

play14:17

here would be well any any company that

play14:19

I think is even remotely important I

play14:21

don't really think a 20% ownership

play14:23

should be had by a foreign government

play14:24

period I'm kind of a radical on that but

play14:26

you can argue with me if you would like

play14:28

I'm just coming back to the fact that

play14:30

look I understand the concerns about

play14:32

overreach and I understand people are

play14:35

like oh Patriot Act 2.0 the Patriot Act

play14:37

was what 350 Pages this is not the

play14:40

Patriot Act it's not it's not even

play14:42

remotely the same there are a lot of

play14:44

things in here that which have a lot

play14:46

more onerous control he also Brendan

play14:48

points out it is only after a public

play14:51

process and Congress has been reported

play14:53

to and then codify this new thing could

play14:56

even this specific national security

play14:57

threat then come in and then finally

play15:00

every single one of these hoops must be

play15:01

cleared and met more so what everybody

play15:04

is ignoring and if you will see too if

play15:06

you were happy to read in the bill is

play15:08

that any company that is subject to any

play15:11

of this legislation enforcement then has

play15:14

a 180-day period to actually challenge

play15:18

this and have their day in court bite

play15:21

dance Tick Tock and others fully would

play15:23

be able to bring a challenge in the US

play15:26

District Court of Appeals in the

play15:27

District of Columbia and then if they

play15:30

want to they can kick it up to the

play15:31

Supreme Court and they can rule on the

play15:34

constitutionality of this legislation

play15:36

but having read it and all of that I

play15:38

don't think it violates the Constitution

play15:39

from a basic trade reciprocal

play15:42

perspective and you know given the fact

play15:44

that you have access to the US court

play15:45

system you have a pretty honorous

play15:48

process I mean when's the last time

play15:49

China uh Congress agreed on anything

play15:51

other than Ukraine on what is a foreign

play15:54

adversary or whatever there's look I I

play15:56

would just I would just ask you to at

play15:58

least admit this it's not the Patriot

play15:59

Act 2.0 you can oppose this and say and

play16:02

at least admit it is not Patriot no it's

play16:03

definitely not the Patriot Act 2.0 and I

play16:05

think one thing that annoys me about how

play16:07

this is unfolded and this doesn't really

play16:09

undermine your point um but but I think

play16:11

it's important context is that the US

play16:15

allowed this to happen um by empowering

play16:18

our kind of tech oligarchs yes and then

play16:21

the OB Obama administration then Trump

play16:23

allowing all sorts of uh mergers and

play16:26

then allowing this like catch and kill

play16:28

where where you know anytime there was a

play16:30

decent app that was about to take off

play16:32

Facebook or Google or somebody else

play16:34

would like buy it up and then just kill

play16:36

it so that our like crappy little uh

play16:40

apps and social media companies

play16:41

continued to be the only ones thinking

play16:43

that the world had no alternative no way

play16:47

to challenge them because they would

play16:48

just come in and beat them but then and

play16:50

then Tik Tok comes along and does

play16:52

something did that people like more and

play16:55

it caught our you know protected

play16:57

industry protect by our kind of Monopoly

play16:59

anti failure to enforce antitrust policy

play17:02

caught him caught him sleeping and at

play17:05

the same time we were working hand and

play17:07

glove with these tech companies spying

play17:09

on Americans spying on everybody around

play17:12

the world and allowing them to just

play17:14

Hoover up everybody's data so that we

play17:18

could have a little back door to it and

play17:20

so it's a failure to take any

play17:23

responsibility for doing your own

play17:25

industrial policy for guiding your own

play17:27

kind of social media policy for

play17:30

protecting the civil liberties of your

play17:31

own

play17:33

population and so when they they then

play17:35

come crying about Tik talk it just lands

play17:38

on De ears I get that and and you know

play17:40

what my response would be you know what

play17:42

luckily for you and me we live in a

play17:44

democratic country and we can vote Lina

play17:46

KH is coming exactly we you know our

play17:49

government we elected Joe Biden he

play17:52

appointed lenina con she's currently

play17:54

sticking it to Big Business and to these

play17:56

tech companies I would also say Joe bid

play17:59

has actually had significant number of

play18:00

executive orders that have impact on

play18:03

data transfer to China all of that so

play18:06

look I mean at the for me a lot of this

play18:08

comes back to it's just like then you

play18:10

don't believe in the government at all

play18:11

and if you don't believe it's like but

play18:14

if you but then just be libertarian like

play18:15

I don't know what to say you know then

play18:16

be Ben Shapiro and come out against

play18:18

income tax like it's like I

play18:21

believe in the government I believe in

play18:22

the American I believe in the concept of

play18:23

government not the current government I

play18:25

believe in the American people I believe

play18:26

that representative democracy on a long

play18:28

enough timeline eventually does deliver

play18:30

roughly what some people want it's not

play18:33

always easy and it's not nearly as uh

play18:35

what actionable as it should be and I

play18:37

would like to return to that that said

play18:39

it's not China and like when I look at

play18:42

this it is very obvious that a force

play18:45

sale again not a ban a force sale is the

play18:48

most elegant option you force them to

play18:50

sell it they get to you know all these

play18:51

ticktockers and all these content

play18:53

creators I don't want them to lose it

play18:54

listen I don't like Tik Tok I don't use

play18:55

Tik Tok but it's a free country you can

play18:57

use it you want to rot your brainet 75

play18:59

uh what is it 75 minutes a day on social

play19:01

media be it Twitter Tik Tok or everybody

play19:03

else that's your business you you can do

play19:05

what you want they're saying they're not

play19:05

going to sell it do you believe them uh

play19:07

I don't believe them um well okay we'll

play19:10

put it two ways to to to to explain to

play19:12

people that the bill forces a sale

play19:14

within 180 days by B Dance by bite dance

play19:16

to an American or I guess they could go

play19:19

public too um and if they don't do that

play19:23

then it is banned and so the the head of

play19:25

Tik Tok is saying we're not going to

play19:27

sell it it will be banned well I think

play19:29

that's a negotiating position because

play19:31

what they want to they want to get all

play19:33

these ticktockers come out and Lobby

play19:35

against Congress which by the way is

play19:36

actually massively backfired hilariously

play19:38

enough um but I mean at the end of the

play19:40

day it's really up to bike dance are you

play19:42

going to say no to I mean the sale price

play19:44

of Tik Tok is probably going to be

play19:46

nearly a trillion bucks like it's going

play19:48

to be 8 900 billion there's already

play19:50

multiple us investors that have lined up

play19:52

and let me head that off too because

play19:53

Crystal brought this up she's like well

play19:54

Sam mman and open have said they're

play19:56

going to buy it I'm like yeah I wouldn't

play19:58

agree with that and luckily for me I

play20:00

live in the United States of America

play20:01

where our court system can block that we

play20:04

want to yeah exactly Regulators have a

play20:06

say over who gets to bike it buy it or

play20:09

not unfortunately the real thing that

play20:11

could happen is this could become a

play20:13

geopolitical football and don't forget

play20:15

because bike dance doesn't get to run

play20:17

its own business the CEO Jiang ximing

play20:20

even if he does want to sell it to you

play20:23

know whoever somebody here in America

play20:25

some investor conglomerate or something

play20:26

like that he would still have to get

play20:29

sign off from Chinese regulator so I

play20:32

don't think it's actually a matter of

play20:33

whether Jiang ximing or the bite dance

play20:36

wants to sell it this is all in the in

play20:38

shiing Ping's court whether it's really

play20:40

up to him I mean just yesterday the

play20:42

Chinese Ministry of Affairs came out and

play20:44

said uh they came out and said it is

play20:47

unfair and goes against the principles

play20:49

of Market fairness and this is what

play20:51

drives me nuts I'm like okay name one US

play20:54

tech company that gets to do business in

play20:56

China One just one the the only one that

play20:59

comes even remotely close is Tesla and

play21:00

there's a lot of problems with elon's

play21:02

relationship right now with that so any

play21:05

final thoughts before we move on I I

play21:07

just also find it wild that the American

play21:11

politicians basically blame Tik Tock for

play21:14

young people being against genocide in

play21:16

Gaza I think you right this is a that

play21:18

seems to be the thing that really pushed

play21:21

them over the top I think you were right

play21:22

and that is a fair concern and uh if I

play21:24

were you I would bring up the exact same

play21:27

thing what is the impetus action of why

play21:29

I unfortunately do think that Israel and

play21:31

all of that did play a significant thing

play21:33

and if it was a ban I think I would

play21:35

speak out against it at this point

play21:36

because I don't think that that's right

play21:37

but given the fact that what happens if

play21:39

it does get banned well I mean that's

play21:40

the thing like let's say they we we're

play21:42

bluffing in some ways yeah let's say

play21:44

they call our Bluff and actually just

play21:46

not like take it down I think it would

play21:48

be unfortunate but I think that the

play21:49

principle of reciprocal trade is too

play21:50

important and I would also say I blame

play21:52

Trump a huge part of this he should have

play21:54

finished the job in 2019 I people can go

play21:57

roll the tape I've been talking

play21:59

I I appreciate you believing in the idea

play22:01

of government yeah I mean this thing

play22:04

just it's just this I do believe that

play22:06

the government can and has worked in the

play22:08

past relatively recently it's really

play22:11

totally gone off the rails you know

play22:13

since what the post 911 Security State

play22:15

but you know we've been through very

play22:17

dark periods that doesn't mean that we

play22:18

can't reclaim it I believe very much in

play22:20

democracy in the American project

play22:22

government yeah I think that's a good

play22:24

thing and that's why we are very lucky I

play22:26

think to be able to live in a country

play22:27

where we actually get to vote as opposed

play22:29

to a literal dictatorship which is

play22:31

completely controlled by this this

play22:34

company and if this brought about

play22:35

genuine self-government yeah and

play22:37

actually represented government hey you

play22:39

know what let's put about it this way

play22:41

and I would say this is what I would say

play22:42

to Crystal too as she's like well young

play22:43

people will rise up good okay if if

play22:46

people are pissed off and that's the

play22:48

other thing look this is my opinion this

play22:50

is my voice if enough young people or

play22:53

whomever Tik Tok users cuz not just

play22:55

young people get pissed off about this

play22:57

you are welcome to have a campaign and

play22:59

to vote and to extract a promise from

play23:03

the uh from your legislature and from

play23:06

Joe Biden or Donald Trump whoever would

play23:08

be the next president and you can use

play23:10

luckily you know again your voice to

play23:12

overturn this you be my guest I would

play23:14

fight against it but I believe very much

play23:16

in their ability to try and to campaign

play23:18

against it so that kind of brings it

play23:19

kind of to the core principles I think

play23:21

that are in the debate I you know even

play23:23

though my I think my opinion is strong

play23:24

like I wanted to make sure you got your

play23:25

voice in and also to voice Thomas

play23:27

massie's opinion Michael Tracy I highly

play23:31

recommend though mean I have great

play23:32

respect for those two individuals so you

play23:34

I'm not going to tarnish them or

play23:35

anything I think they have a legitimate

play23:37

point of view and we'll see what happens

play23:39

what Ben Franklin say we have made a

play23:42

sticky algorithmic app if you can keep

play23:45

it I like it I like it I like it a lot

play23:48

uh in terms of the future I don't know

play23:49

where this is going to go uh from what I

play23:51

have heard I'm curious what you think it

play23:54

at the very least it's going to take a

play23:55

while in the Senate if it ever does pass

play23:57

um I'm I'm dubious that it passes it all

play24:00

personally just because you got

play24:02

Democrats who control the chamber do

play24:04

they really want to be on the you know

play24:05

let's say the app does get banned they

play24:07

really want to you know get screwed by

play24:09

something like that I I don't think

play24:10

they're willing to take that risk

play24:11

there's not enough weed that you could

play24:12

legalize to earn back earn back the

play24:14

numbers that you're going to lose from

play24:16

Banning Tik Tok well we'll see hey guys

play24:18

if you like that video go to

play24:19

breakingpoints outcom become a premium

play24:21

subscriber and help us build the best

play24:23

Independent Media organization on the

play24:24

planet that's right we're subscriber

play24:26

funded we're building something new we

play24:27

want to replace these faing mainstream

play24:29

media organizations so again to

play24:30

subscribe it's breakingpoints

Rate This

5.0 / 5 (0 votes)

Related Tags
TikTok BanLegislationPolitical DebateInterviewsNational SecuritySocial MediaUS PolicyTech IndustryFreedom CaucusChina Relations