Legislation is working its way through Congress that could result in the popular social media app TikTok being BANNED in the United States. Also, Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders has some explaining to do about who paid for her lavish trip to this year’s Super Bowl, and so far her administration is not giving any acceptable answers. Mike Papantonio & Farron Cousins discuss more.
Transcript:
*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.
Mike Papantonio: New legislation is working its way through Congress that could result in popular social media app TikTok being banned in the United States. I’ve got Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins with me to talk about it. The best progressive talker in the business. Sorry, I keep saying it, but it’s the truth. You absolutely are. Look, this story hit me. It’s almost like you got a bunch of folks just ganging up on TikTok because they don’t want competition. I’m looking at Facebook, it’s Instagram. All of ’em are just, oh, this is terrible. These are communists. These are people that we’re letting in the United States. Well, hell, they already control 40% of all the imports that we have in the United States. I think they control $560 billion worth of imports. In land, I mean, the land that they have that they control in America is overwhelming. They have laboratories. They got medicine. They’ve got medical research facilities. If we’re worried about TikTok, in light of all that, these communists coming in. What is your take on this?
Farron Cousins: Right. This is an absolute just farce. This rationale that they’re giving us, oh, well, communist China may have access to your data. If China wanted our data, they can purchase it from Apple. They can purchase it from Amazon, legally. They don’t have to go a roundabout way saying, oh, we’re gonna sneak it through this app. What is happening, I think, like you said, is you’ve got this Silicon Valley almost like a cartel. Everybody is in business against each other, but at the end of the day, they’re all on the same side. TikTok comes in. It is an outside entity. They’re not part of the boys club. So, okay. It’s big competition for us. We’re losing money to it. We want that money. So let’s go spend our tens of millions of dollars a month lobbying these politicians to get it out of here. We don’t care that it’s unconstitutional to ban them from owning this company. We’re gonna do it. And politicians left, right, center, everybody has said, yeah, let’s do this. This is a broad bipartisan deal that even President Biden has said, get it to my desk and I’m gonna sign it.
Mike Papantonio: It’s the most absurd. It is this administration and the Republicans supporting their pals that are given them money for elections, in the election cycle. And they’re ignoring that. Farron, China owns almost 400,000 acres of agriculture land in America. Anybody talking about that? Except Ron Paul. I think he’s about the only one that talks about it. They own 60% of the active pharma industry ingredients. And then we can’t even make this stuff without what they control. They have this brain trust that’s established in the United States where they’re in our premier universities. Numbers are startling in our premier universities. They’re already in control in so many ways. But this argument that the communists are coming, it’s just, it’s a ridiculous argument. But I think it sells, doesn’t it?
Farron Cousins: It really does because we’re back to the whole red scare type thing. Oh, we have to be afraid of these communists whose global power as a communist party has greatly diminished year after year. But still, that’s how they’re selling it to the public. The public feeds on fear. Tell me what to be afraid of, and I will be afraid of it. We’ve seen it just in the years we’ve been doing this program. It’s gone from the terrorists overseas. You gotta be afraid of them. You gotta be afraid of the immigrants. You gotta be afraid of the Chinese now coming through.
Mike Papantonio: Fear sells, doesn’t it?
Farron Cousins: And that’s, it’s always the new, what am I afraid of today mentality.
Mike Papantonio: Corporate media has mastered the boogeyman. They really have. I love this. I’ve gotta read this. This is Elise Stefanik, Republican from New York. You’ve done some stories on her I think. TikTok is communist Chinese malware that’s poisoning the minds of our next generation, giving the CCP unfettered access to troves of American data. And as if this isn’t, you pointed one thing out very clearly, the data is already out there. Any foreign government could buy all the data they want. As far as the communist coming, unfettered access to America. They already have it. So you can bet if you follow the money on this, she’s gotten money from the Facebook types, the Silicon Valley types. She’s gotten money and everybody’s signing off on this has gotten money. It’s just, is it gonna pass? Really? Are they that crazy, this is actually gonna fly?
Farron Cousins: I think they will. I really do. And speaking of stealing your data and spying on you and all that, about an hour ago I was speaking to a coworker about a band, and I get on Instagram, and suddenly I got an ad for concert tickets for that band. No, no, no. Okay. China does not need TikTok if they want your data. They can purchase it legally. And I promise you, if they want it, they already have. But we know that Amazon is collecting data. We know that Google does. Apple does. Facebook does. Amazon, Roomba, we did that story how Roomba is mapping your home and Amazon that now owns it is selling that data.
Mike Papantonio: A couple weeks ago, I was talking about buying a new saxophone. Right. Saxophone ads come on. I mean, come on. I didn’t, there was no search. I was just talking about it. And this idea of, I think it’s gonna fail because I think it’s unconstitutional. Montana, they tried this already. In Montana even their Supreme Court pointed out all of the constitutional flaws with trying to do this. It’s just not gonna work. It might pass. Biden might sign it, but it’s gonna be held unconstitutional.
Farron Cousins: Oh, absolutely.
Mike Papantonio: Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders has some explaining to do about who paid for her lavish trip in this year’s Super Bowl. And so far her folks aren’t really telling us what really happened here. This story is so outrageous. How do you hide behind this? How do you say, A, this didn’t happen. B, we did everything right. And why don’t you just say, own up to, and say, yeah, yeah. We took all these gifts and can’t call ’em bribes, but we took all these gifts. She still had time to report it, you understand?
Farron Cousins: Yeah.
Mike Papantonio: They have a window to report it. Rather than fight this, go ahead and report it. Say, yeah, this happened. What’s your take?
Farron Cousins: Well, exactly. They created a scandal where a scandal should not have existed.
Mike Papantonio: Exactly.
Farron Cousins: All she had to do was say, hey, okay, I’ve received a gift of going to the Super Bowl with me and my husband and my kids. Hell yeah, we’re gonna go. Here it is on my expense form. See you later. I’m gonna go have a fun weekend. But instead, they’re not telling us who paid for it. All they’re saying is that taxpayers did not pay for it. That’s been their response so far.
Mike Papantonio: Probably, that’s probably accurate.
Farron Cousins: Right. Which, hey, that’s good. But even if she paid for it herself, then you don’t even have to report anything. Just say, hey, listen, I worked in the White House for several years. I’m the governor. Make decent money.
Mike Papantonio: I got contacts.
Farron Cousins: I went to the Super Bowl.
Mike Papantonio: Yeah. I got contacts. They got me these four, $37,000 for a suite. I remember friends calling me, say, Pap, come on in. We can get you in there. And I watch it on television, for God’s sake. But the point to me is this, this is a great example of a politician that just won’t own up, and it just gets worse and worse and worse. You know, truthfully, they like her in Arkansas. She’s done some good things for ’em in Arkansas, apparently. That’s the take on it. But when you get into this kind of thing, it doesn’t get any better, does it?
Farron Cousins: No. And the biggest issue that she has had, because she’s only been there for a year, and so what’s happened is that multiple times throughout this one year, there’s been issues with her spending. And the Super Bowl thing is just another one of those. They said, okay, you spent $19,000 on a lectern. Uh, can you tell us more about that? And the administration said, no. No, we’re not. And so it’s always just this weird administration saying, we’re not gonna answer any questions. They did pass a law.
Mike Papantonio: That’s the new thing though. That’s not just her, you understand? That’s the new thing. Whether Democrats, Republican, we’re just not gonna answer you. You’re dirt bag corporate media. We’re not gonna talk to you. Right?
Farron Cousins: Well, I will say one of the things that she did, her first thing in office, which was actually copying Ron DeSantis here, she signed a bill into law shielding all of her travel records from the public. So even after the fact, even because Ron DeSantis said, well, I have to do it for my protection. I don’t want people to know where I am. But with hers, it said, even after I get back from the trip, I still don’t have to disclose where I went or who paid for it. So it’s all of this kind of shady coverup that makes people question things when all you have to do is be open and honest.
Mike Papantonio: Would this have happened 10 years ago? 15 years ago, would this have happened? Would somebody, would a Menendez happen 15 years ago?
Farron Cousins: No.
Mike Papantonio: Would this happen 15 years ago? Where somebody says, yeah, this is just the new norm. I’m not gonna talk to you. No, Mr. Reporter. I’m not going to talk to you. Not just corporate. So whatever it is, independent, I’m not gonna talk to you. I choose not to talk to you. I’ve got this office, yeah, I’m a public figure, but I’m not gonna talk to you.
Farron Cousins: You know, it’s funny you bring that up because I was having that conversation the other day on TYT and you remember the story, a guy running for office Republican George Allen.
Mike Papantonio: Sure.
Farron Cousins: And he looked over at one of his opponents people who was there to film his little speech and he called him macaca.
Mike Papantonio: Yeah. I remember macaca, of course.
Farron Cousins: That ended George Allen’s career. That was one of the first viral political videos. But now, name calling like that.
Mike Papantonio: Oh my God.
Farron Cousins: And just the general stupidity is so common. George Allen would be elected to office in a heartbeat today doing something like that. Because that’s how far the entire political system has fallen.
Mike Papantonio: That’s how separated we are, right?
Farron Cousins: Yeah.
Mike Papantonio: Well, the story that Rick Outzen and I are gonna do is, has to do with the book that comes out, the angry urban south, where it’s name calling. Now, I know you probably have a different angle. When I read it, I was outraged. I was outraged about the idea that we’re at a point to where we can take an entire demographic and just like Hillary’s, what did he call, what was Hillary’s, deplorables?
Farron Cousins: Yeah.
Mike Papantonio: That that becomes the norm. There’s something wrong with that to me, Farron. What do you think?
Farron Cousins: I mean, look, when we look at what some of these Trump supporters have done, and I know the death threats I get. I know which side those are coming from. I’m not gonna disagree with the deplorable thing because I see it firsthand. I can open up my comments on Facebook and see my messages. That’s what I’m getting. So yeah, there are plenty. Can you put everybody anywhere in one basket? No, you can’t.
Mike Papantonio: Is it a big seller? Do you think it sells in politics to take entire demographics?
Farron Cousins: Absolutely not, no.
Mike Papantonio: I mean, we saw it with Hillary. She basically called everybody in the south, or basically, if you lived in an urban area, a rural, excuse me, rural area, you were deplorable. Or if you at one point considered that you might be a republican that maybe voted for Trump, you’re deplorable. I just don’t think it’s a winning situation. I don’t think you go there and say, yeah, we’re gonna get a good result. It’s kind of an ivory tower elitist kind of approach. Maybe. But I’m not seeing it as a, I don’t think it gets kind of results people want.
Farron Cousins: I don’t think it necessarily wins over new voters. Again, having said that, I personally am not gonna disagree with it. But if you’re trying to attract new voters, definitely not the best route to say, hey, all of you people right here, I hate you, you know.
Mike Papantonio: Right. How does that work?
Farron Cousins: You’ve gotta be a little more nuanced when you’re in politics. For what I do, I can say stuff like that because I’m not running for office. I don’t need your votes.
Mike Papantonio: Right. It’s your right. It’s your right. This is what you do for a living. But when you’re running for office to say, and I’m even hearing politicians adopt this angry, rural south, that’s killing democracy. I just don’t think it’s, I don’t think it’s a winner. First of all, the whole demise of democracy thing, what a weak thing to go to when you have all these other things to talk about. You understand what I’m saying? All this long list of things to talk about, and you land on demise of democracy, which to most people doesn’t really resonate, I don’t think.
Farron Cousins: Well, and you also, you look at the right and they make the same generalized comments about California.
Mike Papantonio: Oh, no question.
Farron Cousins: They’re doing it about New York and all these.
Mike Papantonio: Yeah. New York, California, all Chicago. You know, everybody’s getting shot and killed, and the crime is bad and drugs out of control.
Farron Cousins: So everybody’s painting with these broad brushes here. And it doesn’t, again, it doesn’t win people over that weren’t already in your camp.
Mike Papantonio: Yeah. I mean, if you’re in that camp, you’re going, wow. Go say it again. Yeah, yeah. But it doesn’t win votes.
Farron Cousins: Yeah.
Mike Papantonio: Farron, thanks for joining me. Okay.
Farron Cousins: Thank you.
Farron Cousins: Ring of Fire founder and host of America’s Lawyer, Mike Papantonio has a new book came out this week called, “Suspicious Activity.” Like his other books before it, this book actually deals with real legal cases that Mike Papantonio has handled, but in a fictionalized way. The book follows the character of Nick Deketomis that Papantonio first introduced in his book, “Law and Disorder,” and it carries on the story that began in “Law and Disorder” through “Law and Vengeance,” “Law and Addiction,” “Inhuman Trafficking,” and now “Suspicious Activity.” This book, in particular, deals with the financial institutions that have helped launder money for terrorist organizations, which of course is a topic we have covered extensively here on Ring of Fire. So if you’re a follower of Mike Papantonio’s books, or if this is your first one, you can get your copy of “Suspicious Activity” now. Just go to MikePapantonio.com and place your order. And if you haven’t already, check out Mike’s other books, also available on MikePapantonio.com.
