Ignoring Congress is the real TikTok threat

President Trump signed an executive order yesterday to extend the deadline for the congressional ban on TikTok if its parent company does not sell its U.S. operations to an American company. This is the third 90-day extension that Trump has signed. 

Yet this action to extend the deadline a third time is clearly illegal. (It was also illegal the second time he took this action.) After all, the law allows only for one extension.* Congress voted for this law, and Trump himself signed it. 

So why is this extension allowed to happen? The White House has not provided an explanation or the legal grounds for its actions, reported NPR's Jon Ruwich.

Given everything else on the political agenda — mass kidnappings deportations, a $3 trillion tax bill that cuts both Medicare and Medicaid, a potential war in Iran — the stakes on extending the TikTok ban seem low. Indeed, most people are comfortable with the delay and there are no objections to the extension. Not from TikTok, and not from either chamber of Congress.

But that’s exactly what makes this so dangerous. 

Despite universal agreement that Trump does not have the power to do what he just did, the precedent is now set: a presidential executive order can override a law passed by Congress. 

Now that this new norm has been established, what’s to stop it from happening when the stakes are much higher?


*The relevant law is the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, passed as part of Public Law 118-50. Division H, Section 3(c) states, "With respect to a foreign adversary controlled application, the President may grant a 1-time extension of not more than 90 days with respect to the date on which this subsection would otherwise apply to such application."

Popular posts from this blog

USC goes commando

Image
I've always thought USC cheerleaders were pretty classy (to the extent that such a classification is possible in the cheerleading world). They wear long-sleeved white turtlenecks, rather than the skimpy tops donned by most cheerleading teams. But yesterday I discovered that a USC Song Girl named Megan Ramer doesn't wear underwear. Britney Spears, are you responsible for this?
Read more

As you exit, protect yourself

Image
Once again, I've used my camera-phone to take a picture in the bathroom, a practice Marnie finds to be "creepy." Next to the bathroom door at the Newseum is a special paper towel dispenser designed to provide a germ-free exit. The sign reads: "As you exit, protect yourself. Use a tissue to open the door." Now, I'm one of the people they had in mind when they installed this thing. After all, I have long thought that the hand-washing process in public bathrooms is problematic . Still, this contraption would be unnecessary if people washed their hands before leaving the bathroom. In acknowledging that some people don't wash their hands, this towel dispenser is providing cover for those people.
Read more

Burying the lede

During yesterday's "Mike & Mike" radio show, hosts Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic discussed steroid use. Golic was a defensive lineman for Notre Dame, the Houston Oilers, Philadelphia Eagles and Miami Dolphins. Greenberg : You were a player in the National Football League for nine years. Golic : Yep. Greenberg : And you were clean. You didn't use steroids. Golic : No, no. I did try steroids. For about six weeks in an off-season. Yeah. When I had blown my shoulder out. I actually didn't do it for six weeks. I did it for a few weeks and stopped because it had kind of a bad effect as I was lifting. Greenberg : Okay. Let's say for the sake of this discussion you did not. Uh, Golic used steroids? Did we know this? Did he have a legal prescription or did he just admit to breaking the Federal Anabolic Steroid Control Act? And what was the "bad effect" that the drugs did to him? Unfortunately, Greenberg, a newsman who also hosts ESPN SportsCenter, did not...
Read more