AAF: How the Trump-Pence Administration Helped Force the Sale of TikTok

For more information, please contact AAF Policy Director John Shelton at jshelton@advancingamericanfreedom.com

AAF: How the Trump-Pence Administration Helped Force the Sale of TikTok

BACKGROUND: TikTok is a Chinese Communist Party-controlled app used by China to surveil and manipulate the minds of more than 150 million Americans through viral videos.

How It Happened: Trump-Pence changed the national narrative on China and TikTok.

It all began with the 2016 Trump-Pence campaign:

• In his campaign manifesto, Great Again, Donald Trump wrote, “there are people who

wish I wouldn’t refer to China as our enemy. But that’s exactly what they are.” • The Republican platform that year declared that “China’s behavior has negated the

optimistic language of our last platform concerning our future relations with China.”

Vice President Pence’s 2018 Hudson Institute speech reformulated the U.S. strategic posture towards China, declaring that “we will not stand down” to the Chinese Communist Party.

• As a China expert noted, “This is the Trump administration’s ‘evil empire’ speech.”

The Trump-Pence Administration issued Executive Order 13942 in 2020: • The E.O. was intended to force CCP subsidiary ByteDance to sell TikTok. • Senator Chuck Schumer (who now controls the fate of related legislation) expressed support

for the policy: “A US company should buy TikTok” to keep everyone safe.

Biden’s TikTok Retreat: • After taking office, the Biden Administration rescinded the TikTok divestment E.O. • While President Biden has stated that he would sign a TikTok sale bill, the Biden re-

election campaign maintains an active presence on TikTok.

o While the House was actively considering legislation to force the sale of TikTok,

the Biden campaign BRAGGED about its TikTok presence.

NOW: Rep. Mike Gallagher’s H.R. 7521, Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act: • Requires that ByteDance sell TikTok within 6 months of the bill being signed into law. • Cleared committee 50-0, overwhelming support in House vote, now awaiting Senate action.

READ MORE: V.P. Pence's Fox News op-ed: TikTok is digital fentanyl • TikTok “is essentially digital fentanyl, a 21st century technological weapon. The app is so

potent and addictive that TikTok is banned within China.” • “Allowing TikTok to continue operating in the United States while under CCP control is

simply unacceptable. We would never have let Russia run the nightly news during the Cold War, and we certainly can’t let China do the same now.” • “When lobbyists for a company controlled by the Chinese Communist Party can turn a

former president against his own political legacy, we should all be concerned.”

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