Weekly Scroll: The Ban Cometh

TikTok banned, RedNote reversal, TrumpCoin and Gjörfbunkle

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The Ban Cometh

The day of reckoning has arrived:

The TikTok ban went into effect this morning in America, although it wasn’t without drama. TikTok’s supporters hoped for a reprieve from the Supreme Court, but the justices ruled 9-0 that the ban was legal and would move ahead. Joe Biden then said he wouldn’t enforce the ban despite being the guy who signed it into law. But TikTok essentially ignored Biden saying he wouldn’t enforce the ban (because the President is not an emperor who can decide which laws are real) and shut down their site themselves. That episode is a fantastic summation of Biden’s failed political legacy as a guy who can’t make a hard decision to save his life. He supported the ban when it was unpopular, signed it into law, then flip-flopped after he’d already lost the election, got zero credit for the change, and in the end everyone just ignored him. Combined with his bizarre announcement that the 28th Amendment is now law - another thing the President cannot do, and which everyone just ignored! - it’s hard to remember a modern President who ended his term as pitifully as Biden has.¹ What a waste.