Olivia Hernandez ’29
Staff Writer
Congress passed a law earlier this year banning the popular social media app, TikTok, from all US platforms. Citing national security concerns over the app’s parent company, ByteDance, this statute received bipartisan support and a unanimous vote from the Supreme Court for TikTok’s removal from all app stores in the United States.
Enter President Trump: his distinct political behavior has certainly left a mark on American politics, but this recent expansion of executive power will set precedent over future presidential administrations to come.
Trump has allowed tech industries in the United States to continue supporting TikTok on their platforms, defying legislation set by both the legislative and judicial branches and thus overreaching his role as Commander-in-Chief.
Through this exertion of power, Trump is violating Article II of the Constitution, which requires the President to enforce and execute all acts passed by Congress.
Sound the alarm, America: our President has gone rogue.
While previous administrations have exercised their power of refusing to enforce pieces of Congressional legislation, Trump has offered immunity to these tech companies and nullified their financial penalties for violation of the ban. Never before has an overt executive refusal of legislation occurred at a level this grandiose. This distinct behavior of the Trump administration provides a key development in our democratic process, as many anticipate that Trump will continue to test the limits of his presidential power over the next four years.
With this increasing concentration of executive power, the thought of our country devolving into an oppressive tyranny is frightening to even consider. All Americans, including the brainwashed supporters of the current administration, should be concerned about Trump’s executive actions. What may appear to be an absurd exercise of presidential power may be the moment where disaster strikes, where the liberating freedom of our country will be gone forever.
While I frequently scroll on TikTok, enjoying comedic 15-second clips to catchy edits of A-List celebrities, I implore Americans to reflect on their use of the popular app and examine the damage it may be doing to our democracy: maybe our moms are right, we should get off of our phones.
Featured image courtesy of Internet Matters
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