January 20, 2025 | Meek Resistsky | Leave a comment To recap: The law banning TikTok went into effect yesterday. Just a few hours later, the service was restored, with a gushing message praising our glorious leader-to-be shown to all upon logging in. This is unnerving for two reasons. For one, this law was passed by the Congress, and then upheld by the Supreme Court. Trump had made prior statements that he intended to give TikTok a reprieve after taking office, ostensibly in the form of an executive order. This could have been considered an early move to weaken the Legislative and Judicial branches by blindly overruling both codified law and a high court decision. Former United States Attorney, and Trump 45 casualty, Barb McQuade was quick to note this would be unconstitutional abuse of power: “An executive order cannot supersede a statute. Congress has found ByteDance a danger to national security and SCOTUS has upheld it. Trump’s job as of noon tomorrow is to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” That means enforcing the ban until ByteDance sells TikTok.” Trump not only sought to take unconstitutional executive action in this instance, but in an even bolder move he ended up exerting his influence pre-emptively while still president-elect. It may never truly be known exactly what “President Trump’s efforts” were in this scenario. But whatever it was, it made him look like the hero who saved the day and provided contrast to the outgoing administration. With ByteDance CEO Shou Zi Chew playing remora suckerfish to Trump the last few days, this does seem a bit too serendipitous Which brings us to the second reason. This was essentially his Iran Hostage Release. In short, I’m referring to the 1981 crisis where 66 American occupants of the U.S. Embassy in Iran were taken hostage, only to conspicuously released on the very day President Ronald Reagan was sworn in. Was the whole TikTok drama a bait-and-switch to make Trump look good? (The Independent) Culture Re-View: The US-Iran hostage crisis finally comes to an end (EuroNews)