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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTonight at dinner my sister's otherwise fairly quiet 13 year old grandson randomly piped up and said "Trump is awesome!"
Last edited Sat Jan 18, 2025, 12:22 AM - Edit history (1)
Needless to say, conversation at the table ground to a halt. I found myself wishing that my sister's IBS afflicted dog would audibly fart so that we could all exclaim "Ewwww" - a conversation altering response that would have been equally appropriate for both what would have been emitted from the dog and from the 13 year old. Finally, after what seemed like forever, my sister's daughter asked "Excuse me. What did you just say?" To which the kid responded "All my friends say Trump is going to save Tik Tok and make the internet great again." The boy's dad - clearly not yet skilled at cross-examination of a teenager - responded with "Is that right?"
At this point, I knew this was going sideways fast. But, what the hell was I, the invited uncle, supposed to do? This train wreck was happening and all I could do was admire the intensity of the flashing warning signals. Somehow though the kid exceeded all damage estimates. "Absoooolutely. Trump's our hero," he responded. While everyone else at the table tried to wrap their heads around that solid gold nugget, it was all I could do to keep from busting out laughing. When I was growing up, the worst thing you could tell your parent was "I hate you." Today, in a Democratic family, the worst thing a kid can tell their parent is "I love Trump."
By now, Mom, the 91 year old matriarch of our family was staring at my sister, who made the mistake of asking "What are you looking at me for?" Mom and my sister have a relationship that is best described as a strawberry field littered with landmines. One wrong step and you're likely to lose a leg rather than find something sweet. That said, Mom's response was the kind of Molotov cocktail that only a nonagenarian can bake up, a secret recipe blend of sugar and acid. "Your daughter raised him and you raised her. I didn't raise you this way though. You did this all on your own." Bam! Now it's on. Cause that's how we roll on a Friday night in this politically passionate family.
Now, I'd like to think my sister's grandson - a bright kid who gets straight A's - is smarter than to honestly be beguiled by Trump. He knew exactly what he was doing tonight. Call it Messing with Adults 101 in the age of Trump. Good on you kid. You got us. Once you get a job though, you owe me a dinner.
sakabatou
(43,666 posts)Or did he really believe the BS Dump spews?
EarnestPutz
(2,733 posts)"Strawberry field littered with land mines". Nice.
SickOfTheOnePct
(7,590 posts)on how exquisitely this was written - I could actually picture the entire scene/conversation in my mind!
EarnestPutz
(2,733 posts)Jacson6
(990 posts)My mom died and Reagan cut my survivor benefits from Social Security. I joined the US Army for four years to attend trade school.
LuvLoogie
(7,681 posts)Dems were stupid to get duped into passing this ban. They will deserve any political fallout, earned or otherwise. Epically stupid.
Prairie Gates
(3,796 posts)blm
(113,917 posts)before the election.
Dems didnt seem to pick up on it. They had no solid response as a party.
A shame since the top political figure on TikTok was a Dem. And he is now NC Attorney General Jeff Jackson.
LeftInTX
(31,852 posts)maybe national security took precedence? IMAGINE THAT
blm
(113,917 posts)for theirs. EVERYTHING is now under GOP control because of these seemingly minor details that were not countered at the time.
genxlib
(5,744 posts)This TikTok scenario is a very real concern for me. I think it is a huge trap. No matter how we got here, the democrats will look like the bad guys and TFG has the chance to swoop in and reverse it.
No way should this have been done now. It will kill us if it plays out.
Roy Rolling
(7,246 posts)Biden stole Trumps thunder. He announced Congress is a bunch of old and out-of-touch Republicans and he wont enforce their ban.
Now Trump cant save TikTok, he inherits the job of destroying it.
SickOfTheOnePct
(7,590 posts)They say they're shutting down TikTok in the US on Sunday, so Trump won't be able to stop it from being turned off but he'll be the one who gets the credit for turning it back.
And I wouldn't say that it's the Republicans' ban...I'm pretty sure that President Biden signed it into law, and Democrats helped pass it.
lostnfound
(16,795 posts)travelingthrulife
(1,325 posts)enough, Tik tok is here to stay I suspect.
LisaM
(28,885 posts)Our niece, now about 20, has no interest in anything but TikTok and YouTube videos. None. She works a few hours a week in a desultory way, lives at home, is obese, her conversation is limited to what "young people think", and she lives with headphones on watching videos one after the other. We're significantly older than she is and can run circles around her physically. When she was tasked to get a ferry to a family cabin a few years ago, because she couldn't detach from the headphones and videos, she missed an announced schedule change and went to a completely wrong island at night, throwing the whole family into a tizzy of frantic texts and phone calls. She was eighteen at the time.
Aside from Chinese data collection issues, TikTok is as addicting and dangerous as narcotics.
at that age I was......enlisted
StarryNite
(11,136 posts)be moving in and sharing your room with you! That's enough to scare any teenage boy.
tishaLA
(14,430 posts)Except they're fully grown adults who can vote.
speak easy
(11,056 posts)How long have I been beating this drum?
(three times today)
cf. We don't care; We use Facebook.
usonian
(15,371 posts)1. His Dad didn't give him a fortune to play with.
2. He got his grades without cheating.
3. He doesn't "pump and dump" foreign brides in rapid succession.
4. He doesn't have a criminal record.
5. He doesn't know how to use people and very importantly!
6. He doesn't know how to tell people (you) what they want to hear, even if he's lying.
7. He is not a good liar. (obviously)
8. His castaways don't fall down the stairs.
9. People with dirt on him don't die mysteriously.
10. He probably packs more in his
boonecreek
(405 posts)I was a Barry Goldwater Republican. My parents were
Eisenhower Republicans so I just followed their lead.
Flash forward to '68, now I'm a Gene McCarthy supporter
but my parents are for Nixon. 1972 rolls around and I
cast my first Presidential vote for McGovern. My parents
ask me why I voted for somebody who was going to lose.
I pretty much just rolled my eyes and shook my my head.
Come the whole Watergate mess and Nixon's resignation
and my folks never voted Republican again. People can
change.
malaise
(280,123 posts)Rec
B.See
(4,203 posts)no_hypocrisy
(49,745 posts)I'm still kicking myself for "endorsing" Goldwater when I was six years old because I liked his name.
LeftInTX
(31,852 posts)mainer
(12,257 posts)Keep going!!!
Think. Again.
(20,718 posts)bearsfootball516
(6,545 posts)Like it or not, TikTok has 170 million users in the US, and the app is MASSIVELY popular with young voters. Biden allowing it to expire while Trump tries to save it allows him to look like a hero to millions of young Americans who Dems really need to get back in their column.
Emile
(31,825 posts)marble falls
(62,802 posts)... course at that age both Hillary Clinton and I were supporting Barry (in your heart you know he's nuts) Goldwater.
GusBob
(7,655 posts)You are a gem of a writer and story teller
Thanks
ihaveaquestion
(3,291 posts)She's over 40 now and we still laugh about it.