There’s a new conspiracy theory in town: Donald Trump wants TikTok drop-kicked out of the US because he can’t stand comedian Sarah Cooper’s blistering presidential impersonations.
Trump told reporters on Friday that he plans to ban the Chinese-owned short-form video-sharing app from operating in the US “As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States,” he declared aboard Air Force One. The president claimed he could use emergency economic powers to ban the app — possibly as early as Saturday.
Trump says he has security concerns about TikTok becasue it’s owned by the Chinese. But perhaps not so coincidentally many users have forged a strong anti-Trump identity.
TikTok users in June flooded the Trump campaign with fake requests for seat reservations at the president’s Tulsa, Oklahoma, rally, and proudly took a bow for the thousands of empty seats on the big day.
More recently, they savaged the Trump campaign app with vicious reviews to hit back at the president following his first announcement last month — after the Tulsa rally — that he was going to shut TikTok down.
Cooper was back trolling Trump on Friday over his threats against TikTok in a skit called “How to tick tock” on YouTube (see the video up top), and “How to tick tack” on Twitter. “This wasn’t made with TikTok,” Cooper smirked when reposting another skit Friday about Trump’s cognitive abilities.
That’s just what Trump doesn’t appreciate, Cooper fans responded.
Microsoft was rumored to be in discussions with TikTok owner ByteDance to buy the app. But Trump reportedly made it clear he is not in favor of allowing a U.S. company to purchase it.
