San Francisco: Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has announced that it will be reinstating former US President Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts in the coming weeks.
The announcement was made by Meta’s President of Global Affairs Meta Nick Clegg in a blog post on Wednesday.
Meta, on January 7, 2021, suspended Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts for two years following his praise for people engaged in violence at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
“The suspension was an extraordinary decision taken in extraordinary circumstances. The normal state of affairs is that the public should be able to hear from a former President of the US, and a declared candidate for that office again, on our platforms,” Clegg elaborated in the blog post.
“Like any other Facebook or Instagram user, Mr Trump is subject to our Community Standards. In light of his violations, he now also faces heightened penalties for repeat offences – penalties which will apply to other public figures whose accounts are reinstated from suspensions related to civil unrest under our updated protocol,” he added.
Clegg also said that Meta is reinstating Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, however, with new guardrails in place to “deter repeat offences”.
“We know that any decision we make on this issue will be fiercely criticised. Reasonable people will disagree over whether it is the right decision. But a decision had to be made, so we have tried to make it as best we can in a way that is consistent with our values and the process we established…,” he asserted.
Chao’s statement is an extremely rare case of the former Transportation Secretary wading into the political thicket that her former boss has laid around her since the end of his administration. It suggests that discomfort with Trump’s anti-Asian rhetoric has reached a new level amid several high-profile shootings targeting Asian Americans.
On at least a half a dozen occasions, Trump has taken to his social media platform, Truth Social, to criticize McConnell’s leadership, and to suggest, among other things, that he is conflicted because of his wife’s connection to China. Last fall, in a message widely viewed by Republicans and Democrats as a threat, he said that McConnell “has a DEATH WISH.”
But the personal attacks on Chao have stood out above the others, both for their overt racism and the relatively little pushback they’ve received. McConnell and his team have not responded. And on the rare occasion where she has been asked about them, Chao has pleaded for reporters to not amplify the remarks. Other Republicans have dismissed the attacks as Trump just being Trump. The former president “likes to give people nicknames,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said in October on CNN.
Chao immigrated to the U.S. when she was a child from Taiwan and is one of six daughters of Ruth Mulan Chu and James S.C. Chao, the founder of the Foremost Group, a large shipping company based in New York. She went on to graduate from Harvard Business School and served in multiple Republican administrations, and was the first Asian American woman in a presidential Cabinet as Labor secretary for George W. Bush and Transportation secretary for Trump.
Chao’s personal story played an important role in her tenure. She blanketed the airwaves, especially with local media, talking about her immigration story and the promise America holds for others from far-off places.
At times her bureaucratic skills were tested under Trump, as he routinely criticized her husband even as she served in his Cabinet. Chao said at the time that she remained loyal to both men despite their differences.
“I stand by my man — both of them,” Chao told reporters at Trump Tower following a 2017 spat between Trump and McConnell.
But Chao reached her breaking point after Jan. 6. She resigned from the Cabinet, saying the riots “deeply troubled me in a way I simply cannot set aside.”
The statement did not sit well with Trump, who once lauded her work in his Cabinet and he began to include her in his attacks on McConnell. His attacks have “bewildered” Chao, according to a former senior administration official who remains close to her. But she initially decided not to respond since it just “creates another news cycle.”
“Especially for Asians, it’s critical to have filial piety — you honor the family name. And that’s a hit not only to her personal reputation but her name and family,” said the former official, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the former secretary. “It’s offensive and a stain on everything he achieved for Asian Americans.”
Steven Cheung, Trump’s spokesperson who is Asian American, said in a statement that the ex-president’s criticism of Chao was centered on her family’s potential financial conflicts and not race. Chao has been scrutinized over her family’s shipping business. Though an inspector general report released after Trump left office did not make a formal finding of any ethics violations, it did detail multiple instances of Chao’s office handling business related to her family’s company.
“People should stop feigning outrage and engaging in controversies that exist only in their heads,” Cheung said. “What’s actually concerning is her family’s deeply troubling ties to Communist China, which has undermined American economic and national security.”
But few outside Trump’s inner circle dispute that the ex-president’s posts about Chao are racist. And privately, GOP officials have raised concerns that his rhetoric is not mere background noise but an illustration of the way he has fundamentally altered the spectrum of accepted political discourse.
“Trump’s repeated racist attacks on Elaine Chao are beneath the office he once held and particularly despicable in this moment when the Asian American community has been subject to threats and harassment,” said Alyssa Farah, a former administration official turned critic of Trump.
The latest Trump attack — a suggestion that Chao may have been responsible for President Joe Biden bringing classified documents with him to his post-vice presidency office in D.C.’s Chinatown neighborhood — came amid a series of shootings that targeted Asian American communities. All of that has taken place against the backdrop of a rise of violence directed at Asian Americans.
While combating the rise of China has emerged as a rare issue with bipartisan support, there are concerns among lawmakers that anti-China attitudes could contribute to violence against Asian Americans. Some Republicans say Trump’s repeated and personal attacks in particular have hurt party efforts to make further inroads among Asian American voters — a task that the Trump 2020 campaign itself tried to undertake.
Trump’s anti-Asian rhetoric has been directed at others beyond Chao. Over the weekend, he went after a Biden aide, Kathy Chung, believed to be responsible for packing the then vice president’s materials when he was leaving office in 2017. He has said that Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s name “sounds Chinese” (Youngkin is not Chinese). He has mimicked Asian accents while talking about Asian leaders. He has mocked Asian accents on the campaign trail; he charged a reporter with asking a “nasty question” about Covid testing while insinuating she was doing so because of her Asian background. And he called Covid “Kung-flu.”
Lanhee Chen, a Stanford University professor who unsuccessfully ran as the Republican candidate for California controller last fall, claimed Trump’s language has already hurt the GOP’s ability to reach voters.
“I saw that firsthand when I was a candidate,” said Chen, the son of immigrants from Taiwan. “I talked to a lot of Asian American voters in my state and the feedback I got was, ‘What you represent is great, I love the vision, but I don’t know if I can vote for someone from the same party as Donald Trump because of all actual – and in other cases perceived – commentary towards Asian Americans over the last several years.”
“And the attacks against Elaine Chao are really puzzling given that she did really good work in his administration and accomplished a lot and benefited his own presidency.”
Asian Americans are among the fastest growing voting blocs in the United States, making up 5.5 percent of the entire eligible voting population, according to Pew Research Center. Those numbers are only expected to grow.
Asian American voters typically lean Democrat, but the Republican Party has invested millions in reaching them in states like California, Texas, Nevada and Arizona. In an op-ed before the midterms, RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel made the case for Asian Americans to join the GOP over shared concerns about the economy and public safety.
But while Trump’s comments haven’t helped with the coalition building, some Republicans predict it will mostly rebound on him.
“It’s a bizarre obsession he has with her,” said Scott Jennings, a Republican strategist and former McConnell aide. “If you heard someone on the street making these rants you’d expect to see them in a sandwich board or a straight jacket.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
“It’s very, very quiet,” said Wayne MacDonald, a New Hampshire lawmaker and former Republican Party chair in the first-in-the-nation primary state.
It appears increasingly likely to stay that way for far longer than once expected. On Tuesday, one likely candidate, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, told CBS News it may take a “handful of months” for him to decide whether to run.
An adviser to one potential presidential candidate has discussed with members of at least two other potential candidates’ teams the advantage of multiple candidates announcing around the same time, according to one Republican strategist briefed on those talks. The conversations, which took place earlier this month, were informal. But they suggest a common recognition among Republicans of what the strategist called “strength in numbers” in a primary involving Trump.
The proximate cause of the frozen primary is Trump, the former president and only declared candidate in the race. Finding himself on an empty primary stage, he has still managed to be tripped up by everything from classified document retention to dinners with antisemites. The former president is preparing to ramp up his campaigning in the days and weeks ahead, with pronouncements and stops in South Carolina and New Hampshire. But his bumpy start has sapped some of the sense of urgency from the cast of potential also-rans.
“When you see Trump in a free fall, why get in the middle of that?” said a Republican strategist who has discussed the early primary calendar with several potential candidates. Or, as another prominent GOP strategist put it: “Trump’s best when he’s got an opponent, so don’t give him one.”
For Trump’s potential opponents, it may be a matter of self-preservation. Though Trump’s support softened following a midterm election in which high-profile, Trump-endorsed candidates flopped, there is a recognition among Trump’s rivals that the ex-president — with the benefit of an opponent — can be lethal. He is still polling ahead of potential competitors in national surveys, and no Republican has forgotten his humiliation of “low-energy Jeb” Bush, “little Marco Rubio” and “lyin’ Ted Cruz” in the 2016 primaries.
And so, everyone is waiting for the other to act. As another Republican who has spoken with multiple prospective candidates and their teams put it: “I think they think a group launch … provides them protection from Trump.”
But waiting to jump in collectively comes at a cost. Republican presidential candidates will soon face pressures of the calendar, with the Iowa caucuses now just about a year away. Once one upper-tier candidate announces, others will be compelled to compete, lest they lose time to recruit staff, fundraisers, online support and exposure.
“I think it’s going to be one of those deals of who’s going to break first, who’s going to be the first announced candidate,” said Bob Vander Plaats, the evangelical leader in Iowa who is influential in primary politics in the first-in-the-nation caucus state and who was a national co-chair of Sen. Ted Cruz’s campaign in 2016. “Once that person gets in, you’ll see the others follow suit.”
But with the exception of Republicans like former Rep. Liz Cheney or former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who may run primarily as anti-Trump candidates, there is almost no imperative to jump first. Instead, would-be candidates have spent last year preparing for a run without making major investments that come with actual announcements. They’ve made appearances on behalf of Republican candidates in key states. They have gone on book tours and made the rounds on TV.
They aren’t barnstorming early nominating states. Nor are potential candidates spending significantly on digital ads to build out email contact lists of would-be voters and donors — the lifeblood of a modern presidential campaign.
Over the last month, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is the only candidate to approach spending six figures on digital advertising on Google or Meta — which includes Facebook and Instagram. DeSantis’ state campaign has spent $65,000 on advertising on Google platforms since the beginning of the year, and about $62,000 over the last 30 days on Meta, from Dec. 23 through Jan. 21.
The ads have all the hallmarks of a candidate building up to a national campaign: “Stand with Gov. DeSantis against the woke left,” one such ad reads. “Add your name.” But DeSantis is the exception to the rule. No other candidate has cracked $10,000 on Google since the beginning of the year. Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley’s Stand for America PAC came the closest at $9,800. Just one hit that mark on Meta over the last 30 days: over $17,000 from Mike Pompeo’s Champion American Values PAC.
It’s unclear how receptive audiences — on- or off-line — would be to presidential campaign messages now, anyway.
“I think you’re seeing campaigns respond to the realities of the market, where people aren’t eager to start donating to a presidential campaign that’s over a year away,” said Eric Wilson, a GOP consultant who led Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) digital team in 2016.
Dave Carney, the veteran Republican strategist who advises Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who hasn’t ruled out a presidential run, said it’s so early in the election cycle that “no one’s paying attention.” If a candidate announces today, he said, “what are they going to be asked about? Debt ceiling, Biden’s papers. You’re not going to be on message.”
And even if they otherwise could stay on message, they would have Trump to knock them off.
“As soon as someone pops their head up, Trump will be whacking on them,” Carney said. This is time, he said, for a Republican thinking about running to connect with donors, give speeches, study up and build support — all “without being out there naked running down the street.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
The US President, Joe Biden, is 80 today, which is one thing. On the other hand, Elon Musk restored access to Donald Trump’s account on Twitter on Saturday, lifting a ban that had prevented the former president from using the social media platform ever since a pro Trump mob attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, as Congress prepared to certify Joe Biden’s election victory.
Following a vote asking Twitter users if Trump’s account should be reinstated, Musk made the announcement in the evening. With a majority of 51.8%, “yes” was chosen. Before deciding whether to reinstate suspended accounts, Musk had previously stated that Twitter would set up new rules and a “content moderation council.”
“The people have had their say. Trump will get his job back. Musk used the Latin term “Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” which translates to “the voice of the people, the voice of God,” in his tweet.
Shortly later, Trump’s account, which had earlier looked to be suspended, returned on the platform with all of his prior tweets—more than 59,000 in all. At least initially, his supporters had vanished, but he quickly started getting them back. But as of late Saturday, there have been no new tweets from the account.
Less than a month after Tesla CEO Elon Musk took over Twitter and four days after Trump declared his campaign for the 2024 presidential election, Musk restored the account.
Trump may or may not truly come back to Twitter. Trump, who was an unstoppable tweeter prior to his suspension, has previously claimed that he would not return even if his account was reactivated. He has been relying on Truth Social, a far more modest social media platform that he started after being banned from Twitter.
Additionally, on Saturday, Trump mentioned Musk’s poll in a video address to a gathering of Republican Jews in Las Vegas, but added that he thought Twitter had “a lot of problems.”
“I hear we’re receiving a lot of support to also return to Twitter. I don’t see it because I can’t think of a good explanation for it, said Trump. He said, seemingly alluding to the recent internal turmoil at Twitter, “It may make it, it may not make it.”
Trump’s potential return to the platform comes in the wake of Musk’s purchase of Twitter last month, which sparked widespread worries that the site’s billionaire owner would enable the propagation of lies and misinformation. Musk has often stated his opinion that Twitter has become too censorship-heavy for free speech.
His attempts to redesign the area have been both quick and disorganised. Many of the 7,500 full-time employees and incalculable numbers of contractors who are in charge of content moderation and other critical duties have been fired by Musk. A large number of employees, including hundreds of software engineers, resigned as a result of his demand that the remaining staff promise to work “very hardcore.”
Following the mass layoffs and staff migration, users have noted more spam and frauds on their feeds and in their direct messages, among other issues. Twitter may soon deteriorate to the point where it could actually crash, according to some programmers who were fired or resigned this week.
More than 15 million people participated in Musk’s online survey, which was published on his personal Twitter account.
Musk acknowledged that the findings lacked much rigour. He tweeted early on Saturday that “Bot & troll armies might be running out of steam shortly.” “Some intriguing insights to improve polling in the future.”
He has employed Twitter polling before to help him make business decisions. Following a poll of his supporters, he decided to sell millions of shares of Tesla stock last year.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, tweeted a video of the uprising on January 6 in response to Musk’s poll on Trump. On Friday, she wrote that Trump’s last tweets “were used to fuel an insurrection, many people died, the US Vice President was almost assassinated, and hundreds were injured but I guess that’s not enough for you to answer the question.” It’s a poll on Twitter.
Two days after Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol and shortly after the former president urged them to “fight like hell,” he was denied access to Twitter. After Trump sent out two tweets that Twitter claimed raised concerns about the integrity of the election and threatened the inauguration of Vice President Biden, the website shut off his account.
Trump was also banned from Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram, all of which are owned by Meta Platforms, after the incident on January 6. Additionally suspended was his capacity to upload videos to his YouTube page. In January, Facebook plans to review its decision to suspend Trump.
Trump’s use of social media throughout his time as president presented a significant challenge to major social media platforms that aimed to strike a balance between the public’s desire to hear from public officials and concerns about false information, bigotry, harassment, and incitement to violence.
However, Musk claimed that Twitter’s move to block Trump was “morally awful” and “very idiotic” in a speech at an auto convention in May.
Musk announced earlier this month that the firm would not permit anyone who had been banned from the site to rejoin until Twitter had developed policies for doing so, including creating a “content moderation committee.” Musk completed the $44 billion buyout of Twitter in late October.
Musk tweeted on Friday that the comedian Kathy Griffin, the Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson, and the conservative Christian news satire website Babylon Bee have had their suspended Twitter accounts returned. He emphasised that a choice had not yet been made regarding Trump. On Twitter, he also replied “no” to a request to revive conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ account.
The Tesla CEO referred to the new content policy as “freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach” in a tweet on Friday.
He said that although a tweet that was regarded to be “negative” or to include “hate” would be permitted on the website, only users who explicitly looked for it would be able to view it. According to Musk, such tweets would also be “demonetized, so no adverts or other money to Twitter.”
(With inputs from various media organisations)
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