The China-TikTok issues are real/nonzero. That doesn't mean Trump should be intervening in this way in the social media sphere so close to an election—especially with Instagram Reels soon to launch and after some high-profile political embarrassments at the hands of TikTok users.
PS/ According to his own former National Security Advisor, Trump has told Xi of China that his dealings with Beijing are guided by re-election concerns. That alone would raise concerns he is manufacturing a spat with China—which he does much business with—to aid his re-election.
PS2/ But that TikTok has been in the news lately because the most popular comedian critiquing Trump in America—Sarah Cooper—uses TikTok for her comedy, and that Trump's campaign re-launch was scuttled by young TikTok users, adds substantially to concern about his actions here.
PS3/ With Instagram Reels about to launch, Trump also is at least creating the appearance of aiding someone generally considered a de facto ally as he heads into a market-competition tilt against TikTok. And now Trump wants to block Microsoft from buying TikTok's U.S. operations.
PS4/ Like any author, as new events unfold I think of whether I've addressed these events or similar events before. I'll say that what is happening right now with Trump and TikTok is putting me in mind of a chapter in Proof of Corruption dealing with Erik Prince and Motor Sich.
PS5/ Proof of Corruption reveals that Trump has engaged in systemwide shakedowns of Ukraine over military aid at *least* four times—not just the one time discussed at the impeachment trial. The most recent, oddly, doesn't involve the July '19 Trump-Zelensky call, but Erik Prince.
PS6/ Trump is currently holding up military *purchases* that Ukraine made from the U.S.—we've already gotten the money—under circumstances in which Ukrainian officials believe it to be a shakedown effort to force Ukraine to sell Motor Sich, an engine manufacturer, to Erik Prince.
PS7/ This all gets too confusing for Twitter, so I'll let the book explain it in detail, but the short version is that Motor Sich makes military components that are highly sensitive—and the Trump WH says it doesn't want Ukraine to sell Motor Sich to a Chinese firm, but to Prince.
PS8/ Here's the rub: Prince's firm is largely owned by China. So the whole debacle makes no sense, and appears pretextual—like an effort by Trump, right before an election, to transfer value to Prince under a claim of national security. What does he need to compensate Prince for?
PS9/ The Trump-TikTok affair has a similar cast, inasmuch as Trump has openly asked China for election aid, per Trump adviser Michael Pillsbury has *received* that aid, and Bolton confirms Trump's intent to collude—but now Trump is in a war with China over TikTok? It's senseless.
PS10/ So those mentioning Cooper, the Tulsa Rally, Instagram Reels, or other possible motives for Trump's recalcitrance on TikTok aren't doing so because they think China is a good actor in all this, but because Trump has a pattern of using China as a foil to aid his re-election.
