Most Floridians Support a TikTok Ban & China’s Expanding Influence – Top 3 Takeaways – April 7th, 2023
- Most people get it about TikTok. Yeah, Wednesday’s TikTok ban by Florida’s universities on campus is being played up heavily in local news. Yeah, it’s a big deal to some college students and disproportionally so to some influencers on the platform (whom I’m sympathetic to, though they retain no inherent right to create monetizable content on public university grounds anyway). But no, most Americans don’t have their head in the sand when it comes to understanding what is really behind the app and yes, most Americans approve of a ban of it – entirely, as in what’s being worked on in congress, not just on Florida’s university campuses. The Pew Research Center recently wrapped up a TikTok study with eye-opening results... Among them: 38% more Americans believe that TikTok should be banned from use in the United States altogether, than feel it should not be (50%-22%). Only 22% of adults are outright opposed to the banning of TikTok. Only those under the age of 30 don’t feel it should be banned. Literally every age, every sex, every political persuasion 30 and older has majorities in favor of banning TikTok. And even 19% of regular TikTok users feel it should be banned. And while all of those numbers and all of that info is revealing. So is this. Only 19% of those who know that TikTok’s parent company is based in China are opposed to a ban. As usual information is key. As it is, by a greater than two-to-one margin Americans are supportive of a ban of the Chinese Communist controlled TikTok app. When people are fully informed, that jumps to a greater than three-to-one margin. Most people get it about TikTok, which means when you’re hearing the opposition to the Florida university ban played up, those students aren’t just the outliers in society, the odds are they’re not even informed as to what they’re talking about or using. As usual, regardless of the issue, being informed is the key. And speaking of Chinese evil doers and being ill informed...
- We’re being played. But in the most dangerous possible way. There’s no rest for the weary in China. Just over a week ago in my top three takeaways I brought you this...Xi Jinping Says He Is Preparing China for War. This is my top takeaway today because it was the headline yesterday in the top story on ForeignAffairs.com. And the bottom line is that if there’s truth to the article, which is replete with timelines, Xi speeches, recent law changes and new mandates for citizens to join the, what’s called “National Defense Mobilization” effort...we’re in extremely treacherous territory. So let me catch you up to speed over what’s been happening of late. It was just over two weeks ago that Xi Jinping, signed a pact with Russia expanding their already strong economic relationship ensuring Russia will continue to have the resources to carry out the war in Ukraine. Last week China signed a new diplomatic and economic agreement with Saudi Arabia. Last weekend OPEC, with Saudi Arabia as its largest member, issued a surprise cut of oil supplies. Oil the US is reliant on due to President Biden’s policies (which eliminated US energy independence) and that by cutting supplies sent oil prices shooting higher which is starting to once again be reflected at the price at the pump. And this week China brokered diplomatic relations between Iran, whose government chants death to America when assembled and Saudi Arabia, home of Osama Bin Laden and the 9/11 terrorists. Not coincidently China has brokered deals with the top two suppliers of oil in the world outside of the United States. A deal which guarantees their oil supplies and at a fixed rate removed from world markets. For years I’ve warned that...
- China isn’t just China and Russia isn’t just Russia. China is Russia, is Iran, is North Korea, is Cuba, is Venezuela, is Nicaragua and now we can add Saudi Arabia to the mix. But wait there’s more. Because China has also been intimidating countries around the world not to recognize Taiwan as a country but instead as a Chinese territory. And they’ve had incredible success. Only 13 countries currently recognize Taiwan’s sovereignty. This is in part what triggered House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to lead a contingent to meet with Taiwan’s president in a sign of resolution. What has China done? Placed three aircraft carriers off Taiwan’s coast and started to order inspections of vessels in the Taiwan strait. Using military personnel to illegally board vessels slowing commerce and supplies into the country. The fact remains that the next year and a half, with Biden at the helm, is an especially precarious window of time for our country and the world because of the perception of US weakness that's actively being seized upon. It started with the Taliban in Afghanistan. It escalated with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. And next, we could be at a real risk of it reaching its apex with China and their unholy alliance. And over here we’re indicting Donald Trump over seven-year-old hush money payments and watching TikTok videos and blindly wondering why gas prices are shooting higher and inflation is still a problem. What could possibly go wrong, right? Mass ignorance is how we got here. Informing the masses is how we get out of here. Back to my top takeaway today. Most people, when they are truly informed, are smart enough to make good decisions. A lot of this is complicated but how this happened isn’t. Voting for Joe Biden and Congressional Democrats is how we got here. Voting for the opposite is how we get out of here. And making sure TikTok is nowhere near our mobile devices is advisable whether there’s a ban or not.