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Donald Trump’s refusal to impose a congressionally authorized ban on TikTok is a clear example of his disregard for democracy — yet the American public, disturbingly, seems to be giving him a pass.
The White House announced Tuesday that — for the third time — Trump would unilaterally direct his Justice Department not to enforce a bipartisan law, signed last year, that identified TikTok as a national security threat and required that it be banned in the United States unless it is sold by its Chinese owners. Instead, Trump’s decision allows the app to continue operating in the U.S.
Trump has delayed the ban so his administration can weigh in on negotiations about a potential sale of the app — perhaps, to one or some of the right-wingers who’ve shown an interest in buying it. It’s a very Putin-esque way of doing business.
But unlike the president’s other authoritarian actions, his refusal to impose the ban on TikTok — a misinformation-filled platform that Trump has openly touted for aiding his political ambitions — hasn’t been treated like the transgressive approach to executive power that it fundamentally is. Several Democratic senators, who themselves don’t support the ban, have said that Trump cannot continue to delay; Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia told The Verge that not enforcing the ban is plainly “against the law.” Even Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri has said Trump “ought to enforce the statute and ban TikTok.”
I didn’t see a single sign at the “No Kings” rallies last weekend denouncing Trump’s decision not to enforce the TikTok ban. Activist groups certainly aren’t clamoring to condemn Trump’s defiance of Congress on this matter (or if they are, it’s not in ways that are breaking through). I think this is a foolish calculation that suggests Americans don’t object to authoritarianism in cases where the law itself doesn’t have broad public support.
Whereas actions like Trump’s unilateral rescission of funds for federal programs and his deployment of the military in Los Angeles against mass deportation protesters have been met with resistance and public outcry, the president’s refusal to enforce law — whether or not one agrees with the TikTok ban — has garnered no such backlash, despite arguably being every bit as indicative of his illiberal tendencies.