January 16, 2025 • 12 mins
Buck Sexton dives into the latest developments surrounding TikTok's potential nationwide ban and Trump's reported efforts to prevent it. With concerns over Chinese data control and bipartisan scrutiny, is there a path forward for the popular app? Buck breaks down the implications, including how U.S.-based tech giants might benefit from TikTok's downfall. Plus, a look at the evolving MAGA landscape under a potential second Trump administration, the DOJ's reputation, and high-profile Cabinet picks like Pam Bondi
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome to the buck brief. Let's talk about the upcoming
ban of TikTok for a second. Here there could be
a last minute reprieve. Trump is considering an executive order,
according the Washing Post here to save TikTok from the
ban under US law. He's exploring quote unconventional ways to
(00:31):
rescue the Chinese own video app from a nationwide ban,
saying it will help him reach an adoring audience throughout
his second term. So I'm not alone here. I like TikTok.
I think it is a very good content platform. And
I don't even really post on TikTok. I mean, this
show doesn't even go really on TikTok Olhough maybe I
should change. Well might get shut down a few days.
(00:53):
This is, I think, an opportunity because all that we
really should care about here is that China doesn't have
control over the app and that China can't use it
as a back doorway to access the personal data of
millions of Americans. Right, that should be pretty easy to do.
(01:13):
TikTok says it's already effectively done, and that there really
is this that this whole thing about the Chinese spying
app that is TikTok is overblown. I keep saying this,
and nobody seems to be picking up on this other
than me. Who are the biggest beneficiaries from a shutdown
of TikTok meta meaning Facebook, Instagram, Google or alphabet and
(01:38):
Google and YouTube under alphabet the other social media Snapchat,
which I guess I don't know if people still even
use Snapchat. But some of the biggest, most powerful companies
in the world want TikTok to go away as a
competitor for obvious reasons. And I think that it's not thought,
it's not given enough consideration at all. That there are
(02:00):
a lot of members of the Senate and the House,
for example, who get money from these companies, and even
more than that, know that there's a tremendous amount of
power that these companies have in terms of what content
is out there and how they can direct or even
skew the conversation. So here's what the Post is reporting
(02:23):
on this. Back to TikTok. Trump is in mulling waste
to save the day for the wildly popular video app,
including an executive order that could unravel the Biden administration's
nationwide ban of the app. Now scheduled for Sunday. He's
expressed a keen interest in being seen as rescuing a
platform on which he's told he's widely admired. Look, a
great way for TikTok to be saved is by Trump.
(02:46):
It's for Trump to feel like a lot of maga
people are on TikTok and they love Trump. He has
a fourteen million follower TikTok account, and Trump said I
have a quote warm spot in my heart for TikTok.
I agree with him, and I think that that's something
that shouldn't be forgotten here. I think that this is
(03:08):
a company that, especially now, was probably willing to listen
to reason on free speech issues and to be a
platform that allows more commentary. Look at it under COVID,
it was bad. I got shut down. I tried to
start posting on TikTok under COVID. It was bad. They
were not helping me at all. They shut me down,
(03:28):
and I got strikes and everything else. So there's still
there's woke mind virus at TikTok, but that's American base.
That's not a Chinese problem. So the Chinese are not
creating the woke mind virus and putting it on TikTok.
It is American employees of the company who are doing that.
So I remember, Biden is the one who signed this
(03:48):
law that says that the app's owner, Byte Dance out
of Beijing has to sell by January nineteenth or face
an immediate ban Supreme courts letting this proceed. So it
was Biden who banned. Remember Trump did not ban it.
TikTok chief Shoozi Chew in Singapore flew tomorrow lago in
(04:12):
Palm Beach. Last week, Trump posted a social media platform
a collection of data showing Trump is a star on
the platform. And you know, look, I think there are
a lot of ways that this should be this could
be handled, they said. The law says the app will
not be banned if it's foreign owner executes a qualified divestiture,
(04:34):
which is a type of transaction that gives the president
broadly way to define it. Look, I think that having
a US based company buy this would be would be
another really good option. Bloomberg said that Chinese government officials
had discussed Elon Musk buying it, but TikTok has rejected
the report as pure fiction. So, you know, Elon would
(04:56):
be an interesting option. I mean, look, there are people
out there who could buy this. I don't think it's
going to stay shut down for long, I will say that,
But I also think that there's a little bit of
a hysteria around this from the whole Chinese spying angle.
What is China going to do with this exactly? And
the people who are so worried about China putting bad
(05:17):
stuff for Americans on these are American content creators. Like
I don't see any Chinese content on here. It's American
content creators making this stuff. It's guys who live in
Red States who are cooking steaks and firing handguns and
talking about the best holster. And you know, China is
not like they don't have an army of people in
Beijing fabricating all this stuff to brainwash us or something.
(05:38):
So I think that people have gone along with this
much more than they should. Sponsor is Birch Gold. You know,
Birch Gold is a great company that can get you
into gold and silver for the first time or to
add your existing holdings, especially if you're thinking about long
term and four oh one K planning. Mark in this
audience took advantage of hearing about Birch Gold. He's now
(06:00):
working with them. He says, Birch Gold has brightened my future.
Within a few minutes, an easy financial transaction and plan
for retirement was accomplished. Remember, gold is a good hedge
against inflame. No matter how effective the incoming Trump administration is,
there's still inflation out there. We're still thirty six trillion
dollars in debt and counting. Turn to Birch Gold Group, now,
give them a give them a text. Birch Gold Group,
(06:22):
by the Birch Gold Group can help you convert an
IRA or four oh one k into an IRA and
physical goal without costing you a penny out of pocket.
Text my name Buck do ninety eight ninety eight ninety
eight to get your free info kit. That's ninety eight
ninety eight ninety eight. Text my name buck, or go
online to Birch Gold dot com slash buck. That's Birch
Gold dot com slash buck. Go check it out today.
(06:47):
I don't have a lot on the confirmation herea with
Pam Bondi on Capitol Hill, other than she's qualified. They
know she's qualified, she's ready to go, and they try
to push her around a little bit. It just didn't
didn't work, It didn't really turn into much of anything.
So I'm unsurprised that they weren't able to lay a
(07:08):
glove on her, especially Hegseth already kind of beat them
down yesterday. So, yeah, they're going to try to position
this as Pam Bondy as attorney general is going to
be a Trump stooge. You know, that's what they really
want to say. He's not going to enforce She's not
going to enforce the law. She's going to do whatever
(07:29):
Trump says.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Senator Herona, I wish you had met with me. Had
you met with me, we could have discussed many things
and gotten time to respond to the question. Yeah, you
were the only one who refused to meet with me, Senator,
But what we would have discussed is that it is
the job of the attorney general. I'm very glad to
listen to your responses on.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Isn't it amazing how they want us to forget about
what they've done and their role in all of this
while the DOJ has been in Democrat hands, Like suddenly
we're supposed to pretend that we have no memory whatsoever
of the pure weaponization, an unconstitutional appointment of a special
(08:13):
counsel to go after someone who's a political rival. What
greater abuse of the DOJ can you really think of
than that? I mean, if you were trying to come
up with the most egregious abuse of Department of Justice
authority and prerogative, I think it would be hard to do.
I think it'd be hard to get something worse than
(08:33):
what you just saw the Bided administration engage in. And
so now they're worried at, oh, are you going to
go after Liz Cheney. Pembony's not going to fabricate some
prosecution of Liz Cheney, Okay, I mean, did Liz Cheney
break the law? I don't know if she broke the law,
that's a separate thing. But she's not just going to
go after people because of politics. That's what Democrats do.
(08:55):
And that's the part of this that I think is
so funny. The Democrats are complaining and so worried about
Republicans doing to them what they do to what they
did to Donald Trump. So what they want to make
sure is that we don't fight fire with fire. Now
I understand there are different feelings on this. I think
that we should always adhere to the law, even when
(09:16):
the Democrat. But that doesn't mean giving people a pass.
The law is the law. But I think it does
mean that this Trump administration is going to have to
focus on restoring the reputation of the Department of Justice
as a place that does things that are important for
the protection of the American people and of the Constitution
(09:37):
and is not some petty political weapon. And that is
what it was turned into under Biden. The way that
they went after January sixth defendants, including people that did
nothing violent whatsoever, that just walked into the building, and
they sent swat teams to go into their houses, tactical
teams to make arrests, pre dawn raids and all this stuff.
It's insane. We all know it's insane. The way they
(09:58):
went after pro life advocates, people that are trying to
save tiny babies in the womb. It's awful. It is
awful what they did. And I think that Pamboni can
go a long way setting this right. I think she's
an excellent choice. I think she's one of the best
Trump picks so far of the cabinet. I believe she's
going to get through. I think Pete Hext's going to
get through I think Trump's going to get all of
(10:19):
his current picks through. I don't think they're going to
be able to dig in. The Democrats are going to
dig in and convince any Republicans to go along with
them on a single one of these high level appointments,
which also just goes to, you know, the learning curve
that Trump has had from the first term as first
administration to what we're seeing now, which is I think
the most effective, most efficient version of MAGA and the
(10:44):
whole Trump universe. So I hope I'm right on this one.
I think I'm going to be right on this one.
Still very much waiting to see how the deportation situation
plays out, but I'm hopeful that it will be as promised.
Our sponsor is Bear Creek Arsenal. You know, they make
some of the finest firearms in the country at a
price point that's going to surprise even a lot of
you gun owners out there, but that's what they do.
(11:06):
They're making the best value, most durable, most efficient firearms
you can find absolutely anywhere. And the more that people
find out about Barack Creek Arsenal, the more they love
what Barcreek Arsenal makes. I've got a number of their
firearms here at home. I take them to the range.
Very accurate, very reliable, and like I said, the price
you simply cannot beat it. Stay updated about everything happening
(11:27):
at Barcreek Arsenal as well by signing up for their newsletter.
Best place to start in your Barcreek Arsenal journey. Got
to Bear Creek Arsenal dot com. That website is Bear
Creekarsenal dot com. I've got the Grizzly, which is a
nine millimeters pistol. Let me tell you it is. It's
like a foundational piece for your firearms right for your
own arsenal at home. You want to have that Bear
(11:48):
Creek Arsenal Grizzly, So I highly recommend you pick up
one of those. You see the price point, you'll say wow,
it's amazing. And make sure you go and sign up
for their newsletter bar Creekarsenal dot com. And without my friends,
we're gonna call it a buck brief here more tomorrow,
Shields High
Welcome to the buck brief. Let's talk about the upcoming
ban of TikTok for a second. Here there could be
a last minute reprieve. Trump is considering an executive order,
according the Washing Post here to save TikTok from the
ban under US law. He's exploring quote unconventional ways to
(00:31):
rescue the Chinese own video app from a nationwide ban,
saying it will help him reach an adoring audience throughout
his second term. So I'm not alone here. I like TikTok.
I think it is a very good content platform. And
I don't even really post on TikTok. I mean, this
show doesn't even go really on TikTok Olhough maybe I
should change. Well might get shut down a few days.
(00:53):
This is, I think, an opportunity because all that we
really should care about here is that China doesn't have
control over the app and that China can't use it
as a back doorway to access the personal data of
millions of Americans. Right, that should be pretty easy to do.
(01:13):
TikTok says it's already effectively done, and that there really
is this that this whole thing about the Chinese spying
app that is TikTok is overblown. I keep saying this,
and nobody seems to be picking up on this other
than me. Who are the biggest beneficiaries from a shutdown
of TikTok meta meaning Facebook, Instagram, Google or alphabet and
(01:38):
Google and YouTube under alphabet the other social media Snapchat,
which I guess I don't know if people still even
use Snapchat. But some of the biggest, most powerful companies
in the world want TikTok to go away as a
competitor for obvious reasons. And I think that it's not thought,
it's not given enough consideration at all. That there are
(02:00):
a lot of members of the Senate and the House,
for example, who get money from these companies, and even
more than that, know that there's a tremendous amount of
power that these companies have in terms of what content
is out there and how they can direct or even
skew the conversation. So here's what the Post is reporting
(02:23):
on this. Back to TikTok. Trump is in mulling waste
to save the day for the wildly popular video app,
including an executive order that could unravel the Biden administration's
nationwide ban of the app. Now scheduled for Sunday. He's
expressed a keen interest in being seen as rescuing a
platform on which he's told he's widely admired. Look, a
great way for TikTok to be saved is by Trump.
(02:46):
It's for Trump to feel like a lot of maga
people are on TikTok and they love Trump. He has
a fourteen million follower TikTok account, and Trump said I
have a quote warm spot in my heart for TikTok.
I agree with him, and I think that that's something
that shouldn't be forgotten here. I think that this is
(03:08):
a company that, especially now, was probably willing to listen
to reason on free speech issues and to be a
platform that allows more commentary. Look at it under COVID,
it was bad. I got shut down. I tried to
start posting on TikTok under COVID. It was bad. They
were not helping me at all. They shut me down,
(03:28):
and I got strikes and everything else. So there's still
there's woke mind virus at TikTok, but that's American base.
That's not a Chinese problem. So the Chinese are not
creating the woke mind virus and putting it on TikTok.
It is American employees of the company who are doing that.
So I remember, Biden is the one who signed this
(03:48):
law that says that the app's owner, Byte Dance out
of Beijing has to sell by January nineteenth or face
an immediate ban Supreme courts letting this proceed. So it
was Biden who banned. Remember Trump did not ban it.
TikTok chief Shoozi Chew in Singapore flew tomorrow lago in
(04:12):
Palm Beach. Last week, Trump posted a social media platform
a collection of data showing Trump is a star on
the platform. And you know, look, I think there are
a lot of ways that this should be this could
be handled, they said. The law says the app will
not be banned if it's foreign owner executes a qualified divestiture,
(04:34):
which is a type of transaction that gives the president
broadly way to define it. Look, I think that having
a US based company buy this would be would be
another really good option. Bloomberg said that Chinese government officials
had discussed Elon Musk buying it, but TikTok has rejected
the report as pure fiction. So, you know, Elon would
(04:56):
be an interesting option. I mean, look, there are people
out there who could buy this. I don't think it's
going to stay shut down for long, I will say that,
But I also think that there's a little bit of
a hysteria around this from the whole Chinese spying angle.
What is China going to do with this exactly? And
the people who are so worried about China putting bad
(05:17):
stuff for Americans on these are American content creators. Like
I don't see any Chinese content on here. It's American
content creators making this stuff. It's guys who live in
Red States who are cooking steaks and firing handguns and
talking about the best holster. And you know, China is
not like they don't have an army of people in
Beijing fabricating all this stuff to brainwash us or something.
(05:38):
So I think that people have gone along with this
much more than they should. Sponsor is Birch Gold. You know,
Birch Gold is a great company that can get you
into gold and silver for the first time or to
add your existing holdings, especially if you're thinking about long
term and four oh one K planning. Mark in this
audience took advantage of hearing about Birch Gold. He's now
(06:00):
working with them. He says, Birch Gold has brightened my future.
Within a few minutes, an easy financial transaction and plan
for retirement was accomplished. Remember, gold is a good hedge
against inflame. No matter how effective the incoming Trump administration is,
there's still inflation out there. We're still thirty six trillion
dollars in debt and counting. Turn to Birch Gold Group, now,
give them a give them a text. Birch Gold Group,
(06:22):
by the Birch Gold Group can help you convert an
IRA or four oh one k into an IRA and
physical goal without costing you a penny out of pocket.
Text my name Buck do ninety eight ninety eight ninety
eight to get your free info kit. That's ninety eight
ninety eight ninety eight. Text my name buck, or go
online to Birch Gold dot com slash buck. That's Birch
Gold dot com slash buck. Go check it out today.
(06:47):
I don't have a lot on the confirmation herea with
Pam Bondi on Capitol Hill, other than she's qualified. They
know she's qualified, she's ready to go, and they try
to push her around a little bit. It just didn't
didn't work, It didn't really turn into much of anything.
So I'm unsurprised that they weren't able to lay a
(07:08):
glove on her, especially Hegseth already kind of beat them
down yesterday. So, yeah, they're going to try to position
this as Pam Bondy as attorney general is going to
be a Trump stooge. You know, that's what they really
want to say. He's not going to enforce She's not
going to enforce the law. She's going to do whatever
(07:29):
Trump says.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Senator Herona, I wish you had met with me. Had
you met with me, we could have discussed many things
and gotten time to respond to the question. Yeah, you
were the only one who refused to meet with me, Senator,
But what we would have discussed is that it is
the job of the attorney general. I'm very glad to
listen to your responses on.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Isn't it amazing how they want us to forget about
what they've done and their role in all of this
while the DOJ has been in Democrat hands, Like suddenly
we're supposed to pretend that we have no memory whatsoever
of the pure weaponization, an unconstitutional appointment of a special
(08:13):
counsel to go after someone who's a political rival. What
greater abuse of the DOJ can you really think of
than that? I mean, if you were trying to come
up with the most egregious abuse of Department of Justice
authority and prerogative, I think it would be hard to do.
I think it'd be hard to get something worse than
(08:33):
what you just saw the Bided administration engage in. And
so now they're worried at, oh, are you going to
go after Liz Cheney. Pembony's not going to fabricate some
prosecution of Liz Cheney, Okay, I mean, did Liz Cheney
break the law? I don't know if she broke the law,
that's a separate thing. But she's not just going to
go after people because of politics. That's what Democrats do.
(08:55):
And that's the part of this that I think is
so funny. The Democrats are complaining and so worried about
Republicans doing to them what they do to what they
did to Donald Trump. So what they want to make
sure is that we don't fight fire with fire. Now
I understand there are different feelings on this. I think
that we should always adhere to the law, even when
(09:16):
the Democrat. But that doesn't mean giving people a pass.
The law is the law. But I think it does
mean that this Trump administration is going to have to
focus on restoring the reputation of the Department of Justice
as a place that does things that are important for
the protection of the American people and of the Constitution
(09:37):
and is not some petty political weapon. And that is
what it was turned into under Biden. The way that
they went after January sixth defendants, including people that did
nothing violent whatsoever, that just walked into the building, and
they sent swat teams to go into their houses, tactical
teams to make arrests, pre dawn raids and all this stuff.
It's insane. We all know it's insane. The way they
(09:58):
went after pro life advocates, people that are trying to
save tiny babies in the womb. It's awful. It is
awful what they did. And I think that Pamboni can
go a long way setting this right. I think she's
an excellent choice. I think she's one of the best
Trump picks so far of the cabinet. I believe she's
going to get through. I think Pete Hext's going to
get through I think Trump's going to get all of
(10:19):
his current picks through. I don't think they're going to
be able to dig in. The Democrats are going to
dig in and convince any Republicans to go along with
them on a single one of these high level appointments,
which also just goes to, you know, the learning curve
that Trump has had from the first term as first
administration to what we're seeing now, which is I think
the most effective, most efficient version of MAGA and the
(10:44):
whole Trump universe. So I hope I'm right on this one.
I think I'm going to be right on this one.
Still very much waiting to see how the deportation situation
plays out, but I'm hopeful that it will be as promised.
Our sponsor is Bear Creek Arsenal. You know, they make
some of the finest firearms in the country at a
price point that's going to surprise even a lot of
you gun owners out there, but that's what they do.
(11:06):
They're making the best value, most durable, most efficient firearms
you can find absolutely anywhere. And the more that people
find out about Barack Creek Arsenal, the more they love
what Barcreek Arsenal makes. I've got a number of their
firearms here at home. I take them to the range.
Very accurate, very reliable, and like I said, the price
you simply cannot beat it. Stay updated about everything happening
(11:27):
at Barcreek Arsenal as well by signing up for their newsletter.
Best place to start in your Barcreek Arsenal journey. Got
to Bear Creek Arsenal dot com. That website is Bear
Creekarsenal dot com. I've got the Grizzly, which is a
nine millimeters pistol. Let me tell you it is. It's
like a foundational piece for your firearms right for your
own arsenal at home. You want to have that Bear
(11:48):
Creek Arsenal Grizzly, So I highly recommend you pick up
one of those. You see the price point, you'll say wow,
it's amazing. And make sure you go and sign up
for their newsletter bar Creekarsenal dot com. And without my friends,
we're gonna call it a buck brief here more tomorrow,
Shields High
Host
Buck Sexton
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