Fox’s Martha MacCallum did a great segment with NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby in which she exposed the double standards of the Biden team when it comes to Twitter — something they don’t feel they have control over — versus Apple — something that toes the liberal line.
MacCallum observed that Apple had “restricted AirDrop” which would help the Chinese government and hurt the efforts of the people protesting the government and their restrictive COVID lockdowns. MacCallum asked if the Biden team had said anything to Apple about them helping the Chinese government. Kirby claimed they were always supportive of people being able to freely express themselves but Apple is a “private company.” As he says that you can see pictures of the Chinese police randomly checking people’s phones to see what they are saying on them and if they have any protest activity.
MacCallum then asked how the White House is taking a completely different tact with Twitter, saying they will be “keeping an eye on Elon Musk and Twitter” but not call Apple out for helping the Chinese government. Kirby then laughably said we have been “very consistent” on this when she had just pointed out why they haven’t been consistent. Kirby said again we aren’t in the business of telling private companies what to do, and MacCallum pressed noting that’s exactly what they were trying to do regarding Twitter. “Why is Twitter getting one treatment, and Apple getting another?” “These are completely two different circumstances,” Kirby protested.
Yes, they are. The White House is going after Twitter for wanting to provide free speech, but they’re cool with Apple throwing in with the CCP oppressing their people. Completely different. One is something we should support and celebrate, and the other is something we should call out, along with the CCP oppression of their people. You’re free to say how you think a private company should be acting. What you shouldn’t be doing is pressuring companies to act according to your political interest, which is what they are trying to do with Twitter.
Kirby tried to suggest there were issues of foreign investment in Twitter and claimed the two cases were “apples and oranges.” But there have been issues of foreign investment in Twitter for years, and they weren’t concerned about it before. Why are they concerned about it now? Meanwhile, they’re not concerned about Apple’s closeness with China. They’re not concerned about TikTok’s connection to China. MacCallum also pointed out how Musk had helped protesters with Starlink in Iran and Ukraine, supporting protesters’ right to speak, yet the Biden White House was targeting him.
MacCallum then got to the money shot: that Musk was going to reveal the Twitter “free speech suppression” Twitter files,” and that he posted how Twitter in the past had interfered in elections. MacCallum called out the conversation the government had with Facebook that affected the Hunter Biden story. Kirby claimed he didn’t know about any conversations the government had with Twitter to suppress things. MacCallum threw Biden’s “threat to democracy” propaganda back at Kirby, asking if there was interference. Kirby again protested he knew nothing about anything but then fell back on the old standby of “Russia, Russia, Russia” attempting to interfere.
Now, this is the way journalism should be done: knowing the topic and pressing for the answers, not just accepting whatever nonsensical response they give. Kirby was left a stuttering mess, with no real response to explain the double standards.
Biden himself said that he thought Musk’s purchase of Twitter was “worthy of being looked at” [translate: investigated]. There’s no justification for that, it’s all political, it’s all about control. Good on MacCallum for bringing out all the aspects of how wrong the Biden White House is on this.