If there's one thing I've taken away from Trump's successes, it's that there's no such thing as "political suicide".
A massive tax hike on imported goods, making loads of things more expensive? Political suicide! Constant flip-flopping and backtracking on deals? Political suicide! Doing mocking impersonations of disabled people? Political suicide! Accepting donations from neo-nazi groups? Political suicide! Cheating on your pregnant wife with a porn star? Political suicide! Repeatedly visiting a billionaire pedophile's private island? Political suicide!
Except it turns out actually none of that is political suicide.
I am not the op, but I do. He would not be banning it for social reasons - he would be banning it as a racketeering operation, and the 1/2 would support it because of that.
I think this is a lot different than a lot of wedge issues that tend to affect people mostly in theory. Wedge issues are often chosen by the political elite because there isn’t a risk of the dog catching the car effect becoming a major political liability.
E.g., overturning roe v wade made a bunch of republican evangelical republican voters grey happy while restricting the lives of a relatively small amount of people. And I know this statement sounds crazy but hear me out and do the math: You have to be a woman (~50% probability), get an abortion (~25% of women in their lifetime) and reside in a state that restricts abortion (about 20% of the population). Multiply those together and you end up with a 2.5% probability that overturning roe v wade has a tangible impact on your life.
You can apply this same concept to a lot of today’s hot button topics.
In contrast, 1/3 of all adults use TikTok. About 60% of people under 30 use it.
Like I said in my other comments, this is comparable to a government shutting down the NFL. It would be a major optics disaster to implement a TikTok ban.
All of those things affect the everyperson far less than losing TikTok.
Losing TikTok would be like if the government shut down the NFL. This isn’t hyperbole.
I never claimed all those other irrelevant things you brought up were political suicide. In that sense they are unrelated topics. Dare I say you’re making a strawman argument.
Again, focus on thinking about direct and noticeable impact to the lives of the masses, who are largely entirely disconnected or very casually attached to the political discourse. As you pointed out by implication, activists are a small portion of the overall population.
Roe v. Wade is an issue that has theoretical impact to most women from a statistical standpoint. Yes, the destruction of those rights is infuriating, but only if you’re actively paying attention to politics and/or actively trying to get an abortion. And even then, if you live in a large collection of high population blue states, the ruling being reversed didn’t actually change anything for you. Californians, New Yorkers, and Illinoisans didn’t lose any abortion rights.
Most women will never get an abortion. It’s an important political issue but also one that doesn’t impact most people.
59% of adults under the age of 30 use TikTok. 1/3 of all adults use it. Losing that app is a wildly noticeable negative to people’s lives.
The unwashed masses of idiots would see this as “Trump banned TikTok” and wouldn’t know or care that the law comes from congress or any of the other political details.
A massive tax hike on imported goods, making loads of things more expensive? Political suicide! Constant flip-flopping and backtracking on deals? Political suicide! Doing mocking impersonations of disabled people? Political suicide! Accepting donations from neo-nazi groups? Political suicide! Cheating on your pregnant wife with a porn star? Political suicide! Repeatedly visiting a billionaire pedophile's private island? Political suicide!
Except it turns out actually none of that is political suicide.