“A coalition of investors from Oracle, MGX, and Silver Lake has agreed to buy TikTok and run an American version of the company, separate from ByteDance’s ownership.
“The deal is aimed at helping TikTok comply with a federal law, which banned the app in the United States in January out of concern that Beijing could use it to gain access to Americans’ sensitive data or to spread propaganda,” reports The New York Times. President Donald Trump “has delayed enforcement of the ban repeatedly. The Thursday order gives negotiators until mid-January to finalize the deal.”
MGX is technically not American; it’s an investment firm that was established by the government of Abu Dhabi in 2024. Emiratis tend to have very strong ties with China.
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it’s not clear that part-Emirati owners will be all that much better, or that the Trump administration’s frequent insistence on meddling in private business affairs sets a good precedent.”
Tea partiers give Trump a higher proportion of their support than do non-tea party Republicans, but Trump has always had a significant amount of support from both. The tea party as a movement motivated by debt and government spending was a myth. Someone truly angry about debt and spending does not support Trump.
“When conservatives reject constitutional limits on executive power and foment civil conflict, what exactly are they conserving?
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“There was a time when the American right was conservative: appreciative of inherited wisdom, skeptical of rationalism, wary of excessive government power, and against radical change.
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The New Right is not interested in defending these distinctively American ideals. Drawing instead on collectivist, nationalist, and even monarchist traditions from continental Europe, this New Right seeks to wield the tools of government to advance its own social, cultural, and religious priorities. For years, the New Right, by its own admission, has rejected the tenets of classical liberalism, including individual liberty, mutual toleration, and limited government.
“After Trump picked Patel to run the FBI, the nominee assured the Senate Judiciary Committee that, despite his vow to “come after” the “conspirators,” there would be “no politicization at the FBI” and “no retributive actions” against the president’s enemies. [The] indictment of Comey, which charges him with two felonies based on allegedly false congressional testimony in September 2020, epitomizes the emptiness of that promise.
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It is telling that Patel explicitly tied Comey’s indictment to “the Russiagate hoax” even though the charges are legally unrelated to that investigation. In a December 2023 podcast interview, Patel made it clear that he was determined to punish the “corrupt actors” who had wronged Trump even if it required some legal creativity. “Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure that out,” he said. “But yeah, we’re putting all of you on notice.””