Caymans Post

A world within. A state apart.
Monday, Jun 05, 2023

This former Trump White House official says Republicans are 'such nerds' for pushing a 'ridiculous' ban on TikTok

This former Trump White House official says Republicans are 'such nerds' for pushing a 'ridiculous' ban on TikTok

John McEntee, co-founder of the conservative dating app The Right Stuff, says he's "pro-TikTok" and uses the platform to reach a wider audience.

Republicans have largely led the charge on trying to ban TikTok nationwide, drawing on fears that China is using the popular video-sharing app to gather data on US citizens for malicious purposes.

But John McEntee, who worked as a top White House staffer when former President Donald Trump attempted to ban the app via executive order, says he's unabashedly "pro-TikTok" and insists the push from the right to ban the Chinese-owned app is "ridiculous."

"I think Republicans are such nerds for even doing this," McEntee, the one-time Director of the Official of Presidential Personnel, told Insider in an interview on Thursday.

McEntee, 32, began his political career as Trump's personal assistant during the 2016 campaign. Fired by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly in 2018 amid an investigation into his finances, he was later brought back on by Trump after Kelly's own firing and installed as the head of the personnel office in 2020.

In that job, he reportedly scrutinized White House staffers for their perceived loyalty and played a significant role in the effort to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election results on January 6, 2021.

But today, he's playing a far different role — attempting to build a fledgling right-wing dating app called "The Right Stuff" from an office based in Southern California.

The venture, backed by right-wing billionaire Peter Thiel, has attracted some controversy and while struggling to build a strong user base. One of the prompts on the app asks users for their opinion about January 6, which McEntee said was "actually kind of an interesting conversation starter."

"Some people think, 'Wow, that was amazing that people stood up and protested,' right? And others think that was the worst thing ever for our party," said McEntee. "Others think it was embarrassing, some people think it was, you know, infiltrated by the feds."

Recently, McEntee and his team have turned to TikTok with the explicit goal of leveraging the app's famed algorithm to reach a broader audience.

"You're not gonna really go viral on YouTube anymore," said McEntee. "That had its day."
The Right Stuff's TikTok page is chock-full of attempts at going viral, including skits caricaturing liberals for extreme cautiousness about COVID-19 protocols, various jokes about pronouns and gender identity, or videos showcasing that McEntee remains single.

And they've attracted attention along the way.

In one widely-viewed TikTok, McEntee dances to Demi Lovato's "La La Land" while riffing on liberals attending their first protest, making hand-horns as Lovato sings the phrase "converse with my dress."

The clip, which has amassed millions of views, has apparently spawned widespread mockery among TikTok's predominantly-liberal user base, with users leaving variations of the phrase "converse" surrounded by hand-horn emojis on other skits on the page.
"They make fun of me as much as I make fun of them, you know?" said McEntee.

Nonetheless, McEntee says that the TikTok push is working, and that app downloads spike whenever one of The Right Stuff's videos goes viral. He estimated that The Right Stuff has "somewhere between 40,000 and 50,000 monthly active users" and that the company had approximately 16,000 downloads in March — up from just 4,000 in January. (App intelligence firm Sensor Tower estimates the app had about 10,000 downloads last month.)


'Okay, China got one on us'


But the TikTok promotion efforts come amid the backdrop of renewed calls, especially from his own party, to ban an app that's said to have 150 million users in the United States.

Republican senators like Josh Hawley of Missouri and Marco Rubio of Florida speak of the app in ominous terms, warning of the potential impact on children and the looming threat of the Chinese Communist Party. Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, the chairman of a new House select committee on China, has labeled the app "digital fentanyl."

But McEntee says he remains unconvinced of the arguments around malign Chinese influence, arguing that TikTok's data practices are "pretty much similar to every other app" and that Republicans just "think they're throwing red meat to their base" by being tough on China.

"It is a Chinese company," McEntee acknowledged. "But you know, okay, China got one on us. They made a better product. It's like, too bad."

"What, China knows I like watching videos of a guy who makes things out of chocolate?" he continued. "So what?"

He also argued that Republicans are focusing on TikTok because they're unwilling to go after Big Tech writ large.

"They're not going to do the hard thing, right? They're not going to take on Google and Facebook," he said. "But they see an opportunity by using China."

McEntee also said that despite his political differences with Rep. Jamaal Bowman, he "could not agree more" with the New York Democrat's declaration that Republicans want to ban TikTok because they "ain't got no swag."


 Nonetheless, McEntee says that he does expect the app to eventually be banned in some manner.

"We'll just keep using it until they ban it, and then we'll move on," he said. "But it's been great for our business."

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Caymans Post
Close
0:00
0:00
Nvidia Joins Tech Giants as First Chipmaker to Reach $1 Trillion Valuation
Drone Attack on Moscow's Wealthiest Neighborhoods Suspected to be Launched by Ukraine
AI ‘extinction’ should be same priority as nuclear war – experts
Prominent Hacker Forum RaidForums Suffers Substantial Data Breach
Nvidia CEO Huang says firms, individuals without AI expertise will be left behind
WPP Revolutionizes Advertising with NVIDIA's AI Powerhouse
Two US Employees Fired For Chasing Robbers Out Of Store As They Broke ''Company Policy''
If you donated to BLM, you got played
Pfizer, the EU, and disappearing ink - Smoke, Mirrors, and the Billion-Dose Pfizer Vaccine Deal: EU's 'Open Secret
Actor Tom Hanks told Harvard University graduates to be superheroes in their defense of truth and American ideals, and to resist those who twist the truth for their own gain
The Sussexes' Royal Rebound: Could Harry and Meghan Markle Return to the UK?
A provocative study suggests: Left-Wing Extremism and its Unsettling Connection to Psychopathy and Narcissism
France Arrests 10 on Suspicion of Failing to Respond in Time to Migrant Drowning
Neuralink Receives FDA Approval for First-in-Human Clinical Study
Is Saudi Arabia the holiest place in the world? Ancient Hebrew Inscriptions from "The Mount Sinai Stand" Discovered in Saudi Arabia
Ukrainian Intelligence Official Admits to Assassination Attempts on Putin
Bernard Arnault Loses $11.2 Billion in One Day as Investors Fear Slowdown in US Growth Will Reduce Demand for Luxury Products
Russian’s Wagner Group leader: “I am not a chef, I am a butcher. Russia is in danger of a revolution like in 1917.”
TikTok Sues Montana Over Law Banning the App
Ron DeSantis Jumps Into 2024 Presidential Race, Setting Up Showdown With Trump
Last Walmart in North Portland Closing Down
Florida's DeSantis seeks to disqualify judge in Disney case
Talks between US House Republicans and President Biden's Democratic administration on raising the federal government's $31.4tn debt ceiling have paused
Biden Administration Eyeing High-Profile Visits to China: The Biden Administration is heating things up by looking into setting up a series of top-level visits to Beijing by top officials in the coming months
New evidence in special counsel probe may undercut Trump’s claim documents he took were automatically declassified
A French court of appeals confirmed former President Nicolas Sarkozy's three-year jail term for corruption and influence peddling
Debt Ceiling Crises Have Unleashed Political Chaos
Weibao Wang, a former software engineer at Apple, was charged with stealing trade secrets related to autonomous systems, including self-driving cars
Mobile phone giant Vodafone to cut 11,000 jobs globally over three years as new boss says its performance not good enough
Elon Musk compares George Soros to Magneto, the supervillain from the Marvel Comics series.
Warren Buffett Sells TSMC Shares Over Concerns About Taiwan's Stability
New Study Finds That Secondary Bacterial Pneumonia Is a Major Cause of Death in COVID-19 Patients Who Require Ventilator Assistance
The Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines calls the British monarchy "an absurdity" he wants to remove in his lifetime
King Charles III being crowned.
'Godfather Of AI' Geoffrey Hinton Quits Google To Warn Of The Tech's Dangers
A Real woman
Vermont Man Charged with Stalking After Secretly Tracking Woman with Apple AirTag
Elon Musk Statements About Tesla Autopilot Could Be 'Deepfakes,' Lawyers Claim. Judge Evette Pennypacker Does Not Understand How Far and Advanced This Technology Became
Ukraine More Prepared for Counterattack as Reinforcements Arrive
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni Discuss Migration, Defence, and Ukraine
AT&T's Successful Test of Satellite-Based Phone Call Raises Possibility of Widespread Coverage
CNN: "Joe Biden is asking for four more years — when 74% of Americans think the country is heading the wrong way“
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Cuts Short Live TV Interview Due to Health Issue
US Congresswoman threaten Twitter Files journalist with arrest
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh slams New York Times' pro-government stance and treatment of sources
Enough is enough: it's time to end the war in Ukraine. While Russia may be to blame for starting it, Russia is not the one refusing to stop it
Fox News Settles their case with Dominion Voting Systems for a staggering $787.5 MILLION
AG decries scapegoating and rushed lawmaking by government
The land of the free violence
21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira has been arrested for leaking classified Pentagon Documents
×