On the surface, it may seem like a petty dispute over the use of TikTok, but the spat between the former Governor and Vivek Ramaswamy is actually one of the fundamental battles of our time, and Haley is not on our side.
In politics, sometimes small, seemingly inconsequential moments illuminate larger issues, crystallizing the true underlying dynamics that can frequently get lost amid the day to day fray of our inter and intra party disputes. The ongoing feud between Republican Presidential Candidates Nikki Haley, former Ambassador to the United Nations and Governor of South Carolina, and Vivek Ramasamy, a tech entrepreneur and first time politician, over the use of TikTok is one such instance. It may seem like a silly, petty, even personal dispute on the surface, but there is something much larger and much more important to the American people driving the antagonism between these two members of the same party. The spat itself first erupted last month, during the second Republican Primary Debate, when moderator Stuart Varney baited Mr. Ramaswamy with a classically ridiculous gotcha question about his use of TikTok, the Chinese social media platform widely believed to be a massive spyware operation, for campaign purposes. Mr. Varney asked, “TikTok is banned on government-issued devices because of its ties to the Chinese government. Yet you joined TikTok after dinner with boxer and influencer Jake Paul. Should the commander-in-chief be so easily persuaded by an influencer?” Mr. Ramaswamy, to his credit, refused to lower himself to the level of the question, answering instead by restating what he sees as the real issue. “So the answer is I have a radical idea for the Republican Party. We need to win elections. And part of how we win elections is reaching the next generation of young Americans where they are. So, when I get into office, I’ve been very clear — kids under the age of social — under the age of 16 should not be using addictive social media. We’re only going to ever get to declaring independence from China, which I favor, if we actually win. So while the Democrats are running rampant reaching the next generation three to one, there’s exactly one person in the Republican Party which talks a big game about reaching young people, and that’s me.”
In any rational world, this would not be a controversial position, or at least someone might disagree with the position without believing it represents some major personal failing or character flaw, like preferring Google over Apple even though Google relies on much more personal data for ad targeting. TikTok, after all, is available for use in the United States right now, millions of people are on the platform everyday, and a politician needs to go where the voters are to win and enact their preferred policies. In a zero sum game, losing gets you nothing, frequently the opposite of what you want. Governor Halley, however, was outraged by the idea that one of her opponents was using a platform she wanted banned. “This is infuriating,” she declared, “because TikTok is one of the most dangerous social media apps that we could have and what you’ve got — honestly, every time I hear you I feel a little bit dumber for what you say because I can’t believe they hear you got a TikTok situation.” Incredibly, the dispute, ridiculous as it is in the grand scheme of things – I mean, truly, does anyone really care one non-existent whit whether a candidate is on TikTok or not? – continued more than a month later, resurfacing again at the third Republican debate last week. This time moderator Hugh Hewitt broached the topic, asking Mr. Ramaswamy how he would ban the app once in office given he uses it now, as if that makes the slightest bit of sense and no one in the history of the world has ever deleted a social media account. During his response, Mr. Ramaswamy turned the attention back to Governor Haley, noting “In the last debate, she made fun of me for actually joining TikTok while her own daughter was actually using the app for a long time. So you might want to take care of your family first.”
At the risk of repeating myself, this should be considered a somewhat salient point in a rational world. Governor Haley has personally made TikTok an issue, calling for an outright ban on it and insulting a fellow Republican for using it to connect with younger voters. This a position she chose to take and an attack she chose to make; neither needed to happen except at her urging, but now it turns out her own daughter has used the platform, undercutting the entire argument (ironically one of her daughter’s videos went viral right after this exchange). Governor Haley’s daughter is an adult and one can debate what weight to give this fact, but few things scream hypocrisy like railing against something your own family relies on. She could’ve chosen to respond reasonably, saying her daughter is an adult who makes her own decisions, just as Mr. Ramaswamy is an adult who makes his. Both are wrong, and both should reconsider given the risks from China, which should be all too clear after they brought the entire world to its knees by foolishly and carelessly weaponizing dangerous diseases. Instead, Governor Haley chose to lash out in even more personal terms. “Leave my daughter out of your voice,” she said. “You’re just scum.” Imagine for a moment if a man had referred to a woman this way during a political debate, hurling a vile, unnecessary, unprompted personal insult over an attack the man was responsible for starting in the first place rather than actually responding to why he was railing against a platform his own family uses. Would the media call it hypocritical in the extreme? Would they call it beneath the dignity of the Presidency and declare him unfit for office? Would they demand to know when the hypothetical man’s daughter began using Tiktok, how frequently, and what the risk to national security was in lengthy columns on the subject? Would they go further, adding sexism and misogyny to the list?
Instead, The Hill and other publications promptly declared Governor Haley the winner of the debate, hands down. As they put it, calling your opponent “scum” was an “unlikely line with which to win a debate, but it was easily the most memorable moment from Wednesday night — and one that will dominate TV news coverage in the aftermath. It was uttered by Haley after Ramaswamy — for whom her disdain is evident — went after her on the specious basis that Haley’s daughter uses TikTok, even as the candidate inveighs against its dangers. It was a disastrous misjudgment from Ramaswamy, and Haley’s scornful response will surely have resonated with many viewers, especially parents. In general, Haley showed herself — again — to be the most accomplished debater in the field. Her strong performances in the previous two encounters have been catalysts to lift her in the polls. Now, after three debates, she is 3-0.” Who knew all one had to do was call their opponents names and victory was assured? In order to reach this conclusion, The Hill had to completely overlook the real moment of the evening when Mr. Ramaswamy questioned why progressive activists masquerading as journalists like Kirsten Welker are moderating the Republican debate in the first place instead of Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan, who would ask better questions and garner a much larger audience. Mr. Ramaswamy also managed to stump the moderator in what should be seen as a classic exchange if ever there was one at a primary debate. Mr. Ramaswamy addressed Ms. Welker directly, saying “Kristen I’m gonna use this time — because this is actually about you and the media and the corrupt media establishment — to ask you about the Trump-Russia collusion hoax that you pushed on this network for years. Was that real, or was that Hillary Clinton made-up disinformation? Answer the question, go.” This, of course, is one of the most important questions of our time. How can anyone trust a word these people say when they won Pulitzer’s for promoting a fraud and have not offered even an attempt at an apology? What right does Ms. Welker have to question GOP candidates when she falsely claimed the last GOP President was a Russian plant? Few things could be more critical to the future of our democracy, and yet, for his efforts, Mr. Ramaswamy was said to “go off” on Ms. Welker as if this was some kind of unprecedented attack. The Hill branded him a loser as well, not surprisingly.
Meanwhile, Governor Halley currently stands at 9.1% in the Real Clear Politics average, ranking third behind Governor Ron DeSantis at 14.8% and former President Donald Trump at 58.1%. It is true that she has climbed since the first debate, when she stood at a paltry 3.1%, but has never broken double digits and we can assume that at least some of the increase is due to other candidates dropping out, not her hurling invectives. Regardless, the former Governor continues to see a crusade against social media as a winning issue. Earlier this week, she told Fox News about a new, blatantly unconstitutional plan to force all social media users to verify their identity somehow, like a universal social media passport of some kind because anonymous posts are a “national security threat.” “It is why when I get into office, the first thing we have to do, social media accounts… social media companies, they have to show America their algorithms. Let us see why they’re pushing what they’re pushing. The second thing is every person on social media should be verified by their name,” she said. “When you do that, all of a sudden people have to stand by what they say, and it gets rid of the Russian bots, the Iranian bots, and the Chinese bots. And then you’re gonna get some civility when people know their name is next to what they say, and they know their pastor and their family member’s gonna see it. It’s gonna help our kids and it’s gonna help our country.” Rather than respond to this rather dubious yet undoubtedly establishment scheme myself except to note that here Governor Haley references the ridiculous canard that democracy can’t handle a few fake accounts, a critical part of the Russia Collusion hoax, I’ll quote Governor DeSantis who posted the obvious on X in one of this best retorts of a moribund campaign. “You know who were anonymous writers back in the day? Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison when they wrote the Federalist Papers,” he wrote. “They were not ‘national security threats,’ nor are the many conservative Americans across the country who exercise their Constitutional right to voice their opinions without fear of being harassed or canceled by the school they go to or the company they work for.” Glenn Greenwald, the libertarian journalist, concurred. “Is Nikki Haley aware that the Federalist Papers were written by founding fathers using pseudonyms? Nikki Haley may be one of the most war-mongering and authoritarian candidates for president in some time. She’s completely unhinged. This is blatantly unconstitutional.” Mr. Ramaswamy responded as well, saying that Governor Haley is “openly pushing for the government to use private tech companies to censor speech…any politician who thinks it’s OK for the government to use the private sector as its censorship bureau shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the White House.”
Thus, what on the surface is a petty dispute over the use of TikTok is actually one of the fundamental battles of our time. Governor Haley is a creature of the establishment. The establishment is not an easy thing to define, but generally features a few prominent traits, all of which she displayed throughout the past two months. First, the establishment is fond of telling everyone else what they can and can’t do, while doing whatever they want themselves. The entire world witnessed a lesson in this regard throughout the pandemic, when the average citizen was supposed to remain locked in their homes while the establishment couldn’t be bothered to follow their own supposedly essential protocols. Second, the establishment responds to any argument or criticism by lashing out and attacking the messenger. Governor Haley apparently sees nothing wrong with her own family member using TikTok, but once someone dares mention it, they’re scum. The pandemic was illuminating as well in this regard, when anyone who disagreed was branded a monster rather than actually engaging with the disagreement in substantive terms. Third, the establishment is a collective group that will do whatever it takes to protect themselves, and you’re not in it. The Hill spun an incident they would’ve savaged Ron DeSantis or Donald Trump for as some kind of victory, acting as if Governor Haley was on the march to the White House while in reality she can’t even hit double digits and has slightly more chance than I do of becoming the nominee. They simultaneously savaged Mr. Ramaswamy when he produced two of the most memorable moments of the evening, declaring him a loser. Fourth and perhaps most importantly, the establishment doesn’t give the slightest shit about your rights, freedoms, privacy, or anything else. Pardon my language, but there is no polite way to say it. The ends for them always justify the means, and you will always be asked to give up whatever they desire or see point two above. Social media has become their bugaboo, and they will not rest until they control it and through it you. Giving up freedoms of any kind has rarely – if ever – turned out well for anybody, and yet time and time again this is precisely what the establishment demands, restricting your choices and insisting it’s good for you, but it never is. Instead, it’s good for them in their own warped view of the world and sadly, Nikki Haley has revealed herself to be one of them, lock, stock, and barrel as they say.
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