Glenn Greenwald
Politics • Writing • Culture
Rand Paul Blocks Authoritarian “Anti-TikTok” Bill. Plus: Darren Beattie on Douglass Mackey Guilty Verdict, Trump Indictment
Video Transcript: System Update #64
April 04, 2023
post photo preview

The indictment of President Trump is obviously a massive story, which is why we devoted our entire show to it last night, a full 90-minute episode, but it's important that we not let it distract us from everything else the government is attempting to do, beginning with two bills in Congress that are being justified in the name of banning the social media app TikTok: one called the Data Act, the other the Restrict Act that would, in fact, do far, far more than just ban TikTok. They would empower the Biden administration and future presidents to ban any social media app or platform if they decide, in their sole discretion, that the app in some way poses a threat to national security. 

Earlier this week, Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky blocked one such bill offered by Missouri Senator Josh Hawley and others that those senators hoped to fast track with bipartisan support and send to the White House with very little debate or deliberation. We'll report on the issues raised by that debate in the Senate, why Sen. Paul opposes this bill and why, even if you were eager to banish TikTok from the United States, higher levels of skepticism and scrutiny are urgent in the face of any attempts by the U.S. government to claim the power to regulate and specially to ban the Internet and entire social media platforms. 

Then, in the interview segment, we'll speak with Darren Beattie, the independent journalist at Revolver News and the former Trump White House speechwriter, about those pending bills justified in the name of banning TikTok, as well as the indictment of former President Trump obtained and the conviction by a jury just this afternoon, just a few hours ago, in a Brooklyn courthouse of the pro-Trump social media influencer Douglass Mackey, better known as Ricky Vaughn, whom prosecutors claim deliberately deceived people into not voting by use of his Twitter meme. He now faces many years in prison. 

Before we get into tonight's show: we prepared our show last night very quickly because the Trump indictment was announced only a few hours before we aired. And there, as a result, we didn't have quite the same time for preparation as we normally do. There were two statements I made that were incorrect and we wanted to correct them very prominently. First, the Stormy Daniels story that I mentioned and talked a lot about had been reported by a few websites prior to the 2016 election but was not widely known until 2018, and I suggested it was widely known before the election. Secondly, in the context of pointing out the effort by liberals to suppress any discussion of George Soros, his support for Alvin Bragg's candidacy, the D.A. who obtained Trump's indictment, I highlighted how Democrats have spent years alleging that the GOP were the puppets of the Jewish billionaire Sheldon Adelson, yet now, suddenly want to ban any discussion of George Soros talking about Soros’ spending as anti-Semitic. During that discussion, I said that Adelson was a citizen of both the United States and Israel. That was incorrect. He is in fact, or was, in fact, only a citizen of the United States and not Israel. So those are the two corrections from last night’s show.

For now, welcome to a new episode of System Update starting right now. 

 


 

In the world of politics, it's very easy to forget what has happened before some massive event. That's certainly the case with yesterday's indictment of President Trump which landed without much warning and obviously is a great shock. It's a historic event to have the first ever former president of the United States, and more importantly, in my view, the current frontrunner for the presidential race in 2024, criminally indicted, for the first time in American history. But it's important not to let the shock of that event and the magnitude of it let us get distracted from what was taking place and what we were focused on previously, namely a whole variety of issues but the issue that I think was getting the most attention, rightfully so, why is the argument supported by the Biden White House and the Republican Party and the Democratic Party in both houses of Congress, that it was urgent that either TikTok, the social media platform that has become the most popular among American teenagers and American youth, or one of the most popular among all Americans – according to the company's data, 150 million Americans voluntarily use that app – that it's urgent that either they be forced to sell the app to American interest or American companies, and if not to actually ban the app entirely, to banish it, to make it illegal for anyone in the United States to use it. 

Obviously, there is a major debate that we ought to be having in general over how to view China, over whether we should view China as an irredeemable enemy, as an adversary, or a competitor, and what steps we should take once we make that decision about what it is that we ought to do in response to what is clearly the second most powerful country on the planet, a nuclear power, like Russia. These are extremely important decisions and I would hope and expect that the debate does not simply consist of ‘we hate China and therefore we're going to say yes to everything the United States government wants to do in the name of stopping it’. That instead, whatever steps we take when it comes to how we treat the question of China be at least undertaken with a lot of deliberative thought, because whatever steps we take will have very serious consequences. It can have very serious economic consequences – the United States and Wall Street, in particular, are very reliant on the Chinese, and we can punish the Chinese in all sorts of ways, and the Chinese can punish American companies and the American economy in all sorts of ways – but obviously militaristically, talking about the country, which has the second most powerful military in the world and, as I said, a nuclear-armed power. And so, if we're going to undertake a decades-long Cold War with China of the kind that we had with the Soviet Union for five or six decades during the 20th century, one that led to multiple wars around the planet and the explosion of the U.S. Security State – that was all done under the Cold War – then we ought to – at least – have an open debate. I think people ought to be able to participate in that debate and question things without being accused of being puppets of China or servants of the Chinese Communist Party, like with Russiagate, people were accused of being servants of the Kremlin, or assets of the Russian government or Vladimir Putin for questioning things the government or the U.S. Security State was saying be done there. In other words, the debate itself is crucial. 

Earlier this week, we devoted an entire show to the question of whether TikTok should be banned. We did it on the day the TikTok CEO appeared before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. We reported on some of the key exchanges that took place at that committee. We talked about the different aspects of the policy question of whether TikTok should be banned, and I don’t want to revisit that or repeat that. I want to instead, for those of you who already watched it, – and even if you didn't, you can watch that show and that's what we covered – I want to instead raise a couple of related issues that we didn't really talk much about as part of that show, in part, because there are new developments, but also because these things extend way beyond the question of whether you should ban TikTok. In other words, if you in your mind already have a position fixed about whether you want the U.S. government to ban TikTok, what's the position of the Biden administration, there's still a lot to think about in terms of the bills that are pending in Congress, because those bills do far, far more than just allow the government to ban TikTok. They empower the Biden White House and then future administrations to ban any social media platform, not just TikTok – that is owned by a foreign entity that the government deems, at its discretion, threatens national security for reasons such as interfering in our politics the way that the U.S. government Democratic Party claims Twitter and Facebook and YouTube did in the 2016 election – or any platform that is designed to serve the interest of a foreign country, which is how the U.S. government regards dissent over the U.S. proxy war in Russia. 

Only for Supporters
To read the rest of this article and access other paid content, you must be a supporter
11
What else you may like…
Videos
Podcasts
Posts
Articles
1° Prêmio David Miranda

This is the video we showed on the Locals stream tonight, from the David Miranda Institute event that was held last Sunday.

00:03:49
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis says Kamala Harris Would Combat "Rampant Antisemitism" on College Campuses

Colorado Governor Jared Polis tells Michael Tracey that Kamala Harris has been a staunch supporter of Israel and that she would rein in the "rampant antisemitism" he says exists on college campuses.

00:04:18
Michael Tracey Interviews Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) in "Spin Room"

Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) tells Michael Tracey that it makes sense for Kamala Harris to welcome Dick Cheney's endorsement because this election is about supporting someone who "respects the rule of law." He then avoids answering whether Dick Cheney respected the Constitution...

00:01:35
Listen to this Article: Reflecting New U.S. Control of TikTok's Censorship, Our Report Criticizing Zelensky Was Deleted

For years, U.S. officials and their media allies accused Russia, China and Iran of tyranny for demanding censorship as a condition for Big Tech access. Now, the U.S. is doing the same to TikTok. Listen below.

Listen to this Article: Reflecting New U.S. Control of TikTok's Censorship, Our Report Criticizing Zelensky Was Deleted

🤣😀😁Purloined Memes🤣😆😁

"Both former Congresswoman, Lt Col. Tulsi Gabbard and former federal prosecutor Kash Patel have had the courage to stand against the tide of manipulated public opinion to question the false narratives which have proved very harmful to the well-being of our people and our Republic. This is what qualifies them both to serve in the posts for which President-elect Donald Trump has nominated them.

A speedy confirmation of Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence, and Kash Patel as Director of the FBI would be the appropriate response to the wailing and gnashing of teeth coming from people who have a lot to hide. Iam confident that most Americans agree with me."

https://eir.news/2025/01/the-liars-bureau/

@ggreenwald Did you see this video Trump tweeted on Truth Social of professor Jeffrey Sachs decrying Benjamin Netanyahu and blaming him for wars in the Middle East? Wow.

https://x.com/SimonDixonTwitt/status/1878821896441262408?t=6v8-18ibzQnW8P0-q11kiw&s=19

post photo preview
Lee Fang on Financial Interests Behind H1B & LA Mayor Skipping Town
System Update #386 Part 2

The following is an abridged transcript of a segment from System Update’s most recent episode, lightly edited for clarity and readability. You can watch the full episode on Rumble or listen to it in podcast form on Apple, Spotify, or any other major podcast provider.

System Update is an independent show that is free to all viewers and listeners, but that wouldn’t be possible without our loyal supporters. To keep the show free for everyone, please consider joining our Locals, where we host our members-only aftershow, publish exclusive articles, release these transcripts, and so much more!


Independent journalist Lee Fang is a longtime colleague of mine. We worked together for many years at The Intercept, and he's also a friend of the show and a friend of mine. One of the reasons why I ask him to be here a lot is because he does the kind of reporting that has really become increasingly rare, including in all the places that claim that only they are professional journalists. He really has become a specialist in figuring out how to trace the flow of financial information and the flow of money through Washington, and how it shapes the ideology of various groups, how it shapes the willingness of politicians to change their mind, how it makes them go to bat for all kinds of lobbying groups that are shoveling all sorts of money to them. 

He's been particularly digging into over the past month or so both the issue of the debate that arose, the intra-conservative, the intra-right debate, among Trump coalition factions about whether or not H-1B visas should be maintained at their current levels, whether they should be increased as people like Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have been insisting they should be or whether they should be reduced or eliminated as Trump in his first term wanted to do and as a lot of his longest-term core supporters who are true believers in the MAGA ideology actually want to do it. It seems like a very vibrant debate, a very intellectually spirited debate, which it was. But there was also a lot of lobbying, and a lot of money involved behind it, which Lee really, as usual, delved into and helped expose. 

He also was a long-time resident of California and spends a lot of time focused on politics in places like San Francisco and Los Angeles and so, there's a lot of work he's done and a lot of things he has to say about the fires that are raging throughout Los Angeles as well as the behavior of Los Angeles Mayor, Karen Bass, including the fact that she was in Ghana as the fire broke out, despite having been told, according to his reporting, that these dangers were quite imminent. 

AD_4nXeeUEx50n3Wwez8sI1YPz-BWmz-1yCQmG_4aDMGlpYftWo78YUjVk31hti1ZcVvgq4n8Rb4q74pKgTHHZzYpraPKAfslQeuz7vkPlX-0yxSAQA2lRvqcOQRYA8G7gaLpqcvBHItkXw7_Ro_bM8Gzfc?key=qDiTO_vfY8RPlijwpjk5V2E9

The interview: Lee Fang

G. Greenwald:, it's great to see you, as always. Thanks for talking to us tonight. 

Lee Fang: Hey, Glenn, good to see you. 

G. Greenwald: All right. So, let's start with these fires, because it's kind of remarkable seeing these images of entire communities of a pretty iconic American city, Los Angeles, a very beautiful city, going up in flames. And who knows when this fire is going to get under control. There's been a lot of focus as there would be in this kind of an instance on officials in California, to some extent, California Governor Gavin Newsom, but especially the city's newly elected mayor, Karen Bass. She was elected in 2023, if I'm not mistaken. And she was also someone who was on the short list when Joe Biden said he was going to pick a black woman for vice president. She was one of three people with Kamala Harris, another person who was a possible vice president pick. As these fires broke out, she was nowhere to be found. She was actually on some kind of international trip to Ghana. And there's been a lot of criticism about this. You wrote an article on your Substack, which as usual I highly recommend.

AD_4nXfEjofvx6NYytvU_p5sB9pfIwf_J_PASSrTpLD-Fi4l3iHfjsxwV5fPDDStrQp6kzUgMpDhXm914alCVoh5ebZ8YRQp_rUqKwFQN8en98gPeooFe81165OAk_RvAb_GhV0jGNV9OAyLh_2WvzytnkY?key=qDiTO_vfY8RPlijwpjk5V2E9

Before reading your article when I first heard about this criticism of her, part of me thought, for better or worse, governors and mayors do go on these kinds of international trips. Usually, they're just opportunities to get free travel to places these people want to go but sometimes there are legitimate reasons and it was this kind of bad luck that she happened to be in Ghana at the moment these fires broke out. She couldn't have anticipated that, she came back immediately when they started to spread and so, this criticism seemed a little bit cheap and exploitative. Then I read your article which suggested that actually she probably had reason to know that she should have stayed in L.A., not necessarily that these fires happened on this day, but certainly reason to know that she had work to do that she didn't do, instead of going to Ghana. What is it that you discovered about all that? 

Only for Supporters
To read the rest of this article and access other paid content, you must be a supporter
Read full Article
post photo preview
From EU to Brazil, International Rage Over Zuckerberg’s Vow to End Censorship
System Update #386 Part 1

The following is an abridged transcript of a segment from System Update’s most recent episode, lightly edited for clarity and readability. You can watch the full episode on Rumble or listen to it in podcast form on Apple, Spotify, or any other major podcast provider.

System Update is an independent show that is free to all viewers and listeners, but that wouldn’t be possible without our loyal supporters. To keep the show free for everyone, please consider joining our Locals, where we host our members-only aftershow, publish exclusive articles, release these transcripts, and so much more!


On Monday night, we delved into great detail about the multi-prong and quite surprising announcement by Facebook founder and current Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, in which he essentially took up the banner of free speech online, waved it quite assertively, denounced not just online political censorship in general, including of the kind Facebook and Instagram have frequently engaged in, but took direct aim – probably the most consequential part of what he said – because it was so specific and so much condemnation at the so-called disinformation and fact-checking industry that has been concocted and fabricated, and that has originated after 2016 as the tip of the spear to justify the imposition of political censorship on political discourse online. 

We delved into the components of Zuckerberg's announcement, the new Meta policies that he laid out, the reasons to be skeptical of both him and those policies, and the possible holes in them but we also talked a great deal about the undeniably significant aspect of this announcement and the rage and anger and fear that it was provoking inside the United States, particularly among the disinformation groups and the fact-checkers whose credibility suffered a huge blow when Zuckerberg denounced them as being politicized and unreliable, therefore, people with whom Meta’s platforms would no longer be doing business. 

That outrage and that fear have only proliferated and gotten much more intense, not just in the United States. Remember, Meta is obviously a huge international or even global company: Instagram is extremely popular in numerous countries throughout the West and throughout the democratic world. So still too, is Facebook, if you can believe that, and Threads even has gotten a few more users over the past few months. 

Only for Supporters
To read the rest of this article and access other paid content, you must be a supporter
Read full Article
post photo preview
The Weekly Update
From January 6th to January 10th

Welcome to this week's Weekly Update!

Though we aren’t exactly happy if you haven't been sitting beside your iPhone, iPad, tablet, laptop, or misclleanous gaming device to watch our shows on the Rumble app, which Glenn tells us truly does work everywhere, we understand some of you may have missed last week’s episodes, and so we’re back with another Weekly Update to give you every link to all of Glenn’s best moments from Monday (January 6th) to Friday (January 10th). Buckle up: this was our first full week of shows since the end-of-year break!

 

Daily Updates

MONDAY: Remembering January 6th

In this episode, we discussed…

  1. Why Congress decided to certify “Hitler’s” victory;

  2. AOC’s history of lies about January 6th;

  3. Free speech dying for the benefit of Israel;

TUESDAY: Zuckerberg and the Disinfo Complex 

In this episode, we asked…

  1. If Mark Zuckerberg’s recent announcement is genuine or strategic;

  2. Meta’s past censorship practices;

  3. Why the fact-checking industry is melting down;

WEDNESDAY: The View from Tehran

In this episode, we talked about…

  1. Israel destroying itself and its image on the international stage;

  2. What the West gets wrong, according to Iran’s most prominent academic;

THURSDAY: International Zuck-Fueled Hatred, Los Angeles and H-1B

In this episode, we talked about…

  1. More outrage over Meta’s decision;

  2. Karen Bass leaving Los Angeles as it burns;

FRIDAY: Tulsi Bends, Tracking the IDF, and ‘System Pupdate’

In this episode, we examined…

  1. Whether DC broke Tulsi;

  2. How Mike Johnson sold out for power;

  3. One group’s mission to track (and prosecute) traveling IDF soldiers;

  4. System Pupdate: Pointer!

 

About those question submissions: They’re LIVE!

Here’s a repeat announcement for all of you: 

We noticed that many of you didn’t submit recorded questions, possibly because the process was unclear. Regardless, we’re here to announce that our submission feature is now LIVE. Simply follow the Rumble Studio link included in our Tuesday and Thursday Locals after-show announcements to record your questions, share praise for our editors, or comment on current events.

Again, please be aware that shorter questions are easier to include in the after-show!

 

That’s it for this edition of the Weekly Update! 

We’ll see you next week…

“Stay tuned for a Weekly Update update!”

— System Update Crew

Read full Article
See More
Available on mobile and TV devices
google store google store app store app store
google store google store app tv store app tv store amazon store amazon store roku store roku store
Powered by Locals