Beyond the Ballot: Super Tuesday and Tik Tok order
Welcome to “Beyond the Ballot,” a column presented and created by the PHHS Politics Club. This column will explore electoral information, congressional controversies, along with the biggest stories of the week! Stay tuned for biweekly updates from your new news source. This article will feature a general overview of Super Tuesday and the Tik Tok order.
Over the last few weeks, the primary election race has been as fierce as ever, seeing large changes in the candidacy landscape for the Republican Party (GOP). Super Tuesday saw the victory of Donald Trump, 77, in key states, and polls indicate that he is the most popular candidate nationwide, surpassing the incumbent, Joe Biden, 81.
This turn of events saw the exit of former Governor Nikki Haley, 52, from the Republican race. In other news, a bipartisan Tik Tok “ban” is stirring up controversy from many members of the House, who cite constitutionality as a reason to vote against the bill.
Super Tuesday is the primary event in which the greatest number of states hold their primary elections each year. For the purposes of this article, the Democratic primary data will not be discussed, as the party has consolidated candidate support behind Joe Biden. Biden has taken up 97.6% of all delegates from Super Tuesday; the rest are uncommitted voters. Importantly, this includes people who are opposed to Joe Biden but do not have an alternative, meaning that the unity in the democratic party may be ambiguous.
Tuesday, March 5, saw the results of primary elections and caucuses from states such as California, Texas, North Carolina, Tennessee, and a number more. At the time of writing, 812 out of 865 delegates have been awarded to Donald Trump and 51 out of 865 delegates have been awarded to Nikki Haley. However, these 51 delegates may as well have been void, as Nikki Haley folded and dropped out the day after Super Tuesday, March 6.
Unlike the cessions of Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy or Governor Ronald “Ron” DeSantis, no warm words have been exchanged by either side. Of course, as a member of the Republican party, she has expressed support for a Trump victory. However, Trump has not offered any words in return yet. But, the GOP seems to have finally figured out who will be running in the coming election.
The columnists at Beyond the Ballot are surprised and also pleased to see that the article from March 4, 2024, accurately predicted the events of the following days. While this may be reassuring to Republican voters and Trump sympathizers, as mentioned in the previous article, the exit of Nikki Haley from the ballot proves troublesome because there is no “backup” in the scenario where Trump is convicted of one of his 91 charges.
The persecution of Trump has not negatively impacted him in the primaries; in fact, it has largely helped boost the support he receives from his base. A large portion of the Trump base believes that these charges are purely politically motivated, and not without proper reasoning.
With reasons such as double standards being applied to Biden and Trump and the unique targeting of a former President, there are valid arguments for the claim. Kevin “Mr. Wonderful” O’Leary, a famous internet personality and private investor, has threatened to stop investing in New York City after the Trump verdict. Kathy Hochul, Governor of New York, has responded by saying that this was a “unique case,” implying that this was a one-time persecution to appease wealthy investors. While this may appear as clever politics to appease donors and benefactors of New York City, the secondary meaning of a “unique case” implies that a standard was bent or only applied for Donald Trump. This, to Trump voters, is a clear sign of political persecution via the Biden Department of Justice (DOJ) and a reason to be enraged.
The columnists of Beyond the Ballot uphold views on such issues: a person may be politically persecuted and guilty at the same time. That is to say, a veritable crime may sometimes be exclusively penalized through a political lens, given there is a precedent that protects the offender in some way. However, this view upon such matters does not reflect Beyond the Ballot’s views on the matter, rather it adds another way to view the circumstances.
Regardless of these issues, the results of Super Tuesday saw the solidification of the reality that 2024 will be a rematch of 2020. More information will come on a rolling basis.
One last tidbit of information from these past two weeks is the so-called “Tik Tok” ban that has caused many to go into a frenzy. Tik Tok frequenters such as teens, millennials, and small business owners have expressed fears that their lifestyle would be altered (for the worse). While teens and millennials may be losing out on their addiction, small business owners have a genuine stake in marketing through the popular app.
But, there is nothing to worry about, as this bipartisan bill issues a ban if and only if Tik Tok dissociates from its parent company ByteDance, which has ties with the Chinese Communist Party. It has 165 days to comply.
While TikTok has pushed back and its CEO has faced questioning regarding his relation to the CCP, the fact remains that the parent company is the threat. Chinese policy, most notably the so-called “National Intelligence Law,” requires companies to give all data to the government, and keep it hushed from the rest of the world. Current and former Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Nancy Pelosi have both expressed support for the bill, and President Biden has vowed to sign it if it passes the second house of Congress.
BBRecap™
The movements caused by the events of Super Tuesday, March 5, solidified the candidates who will be featured in Fall 2024. Nikki Haley’s dropping out was expected but still impactful, and the persecution of Donald Trump persists throughout Winter and into Spring.
Regardless of the results of the Tik Tok “ban” bill, this bipartisan support of a bill against a CCP-affiliated company shows that we are moving to be harder on China. As the unethical practices of China and its adversarial role increase, it’s important to be wary of their antics. Control over information will soon become control over the world – let’s not get caught straggling.
Stay tuned for more Beyond the Ballot updates on polls and politics!
Sources:
https://www.politico.com/2024-election/results/super-tuesday/
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2023/07/politics/trump-indictments-criminal-cases/
https://nypost.com/2024/02/20/us-news/kevin-oleary-boycotts-loser-new-york-after-trump-verdict/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2024/03/13/is-tiktok-banned-what-to-know/72957680007/
