Steve Bannon appears to bash ex-boss Donald Trump for flip-flopping on TikTok ban
Former White House adviser Steve Bannon jumped on Donald Trump over his opposition to banning TikTok — suggesting his ex-boss’s objections may be motivated by a billionaire donor who holds a large stake in the Chinese-owned app.
Bannon, who was fired as a White House adviser after critical quotes about the then-president were reported in a book, posted a link on social media site Gettr to an Axios news story titled, “Inside Trump’s TikTok flip-flop.”
“Simple: Yass Coin,” Bannon wrote in the caption on the right-leaning microblogging site.
Bannon was referring to Jeff Yass, a major Republican Party donor who owns a 15% stake in TikTok owner ByteDance.
Trump, who is expected to get the Republican nod for a rematch against President Biden in November, was recently invited by Yass to speak at a gathering hosted by Club for Growth, a pro-business conservative group that also opposes a ban on TikTok.
The Post has sought comment from Trump.
The Axios story noted that during Trump’s presidency, he had pushed to ban TikTok due to national security concerns.
But the former president has reversed course amid a push by Congress that would force ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok within six months.
“If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business. I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better. They are a true Enemy of the People!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform last week, referring to Mark Zuckerberg, head of Facebook’s parent company, Meta.
Here's what to know about the potential TikTok ban
- House lawmakers voted Wednesday to compel Chinese Communist Party-tied ByteDance to sell off TikTok within six months or face the popular social media app being banned in the US.
- Rep. Mike Gallagher, the Republican chair of the House select China committee, told TikTok to “break up with the Chinese Communist Party or lose access to your American users.”
- The bill would give ByteDance 165 days to divest TikTok, which is used by more than 170 million Americans, or it would be unlawful for app stores to offer TikTok or to provide web hosting services to ByteDance-controlled applications.
- The House Energy and Commerce Committee passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act by a 50-0 vote during a markup session.
- According to the bill, TikTok fans in the US can keep scrolling through their favorite social media app so long as Beijing-based ByteDance gives up on owning it.
- Former White House adviser Steve Bannon jumped on Donald Trump over his opposition to banning TikTok — suggesting his ex-boss’s objections may be motivated by a billionaire donor who holds a large stake in the Chinese-owned app. Trump argued that banning it would further empower Facebook, which he called an “enemy of the people.”
- What TikTok users, content creators need to know as Congress inches closer to banning app in US
Trump’s reversal puts him at odds with senior voices in his own party such as Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) as well as prominent right-leaning commentators on cable such as Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
“I’m not a fan of Facebook, but TikTok is a qualitatively different deal. It’s a backdoor for the Communist Chinese Party,” Hawley recently told reporters.
The Republican-led House is poised to vote in favor of the bill Wednesday.
The measure will then head to the Senate.
Biden has indicated he will sign the bill if it makes it to his desk.
Some Gettr users agreed with Bannon’s post by criticizing Trump.
One of them wrote: “What’s his reasoning? Really makes no sense. Why condone anything that helps or lets China gather more information on Americans in order to better understand how to destroy Us?”
Others backed Trump, saying the discussion about banning TikTok is meant as a distraction.
“It’s Red Hearing [sic] when the [deep state] is using Google and [Facebook] to destroy its own citizens,” one Gettr user wrote.
