Big Tech Turns on Trump

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

The New Yorker

Washington, News, Politics, President, Wickenden, Wnyc, Barack, Obama, Lizza

4.3 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 14 January 2021

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In late 2019, the House of Representatives voted to impeach Donald Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of justice. This week, the President was impeached a second time, for inciting the January 6th insurrection against the government. Perhaps as significantly, several tech companies, including the biggest social-media platforms, have severed ties with the President, suspending or eliminating his accounts, and many of the country’s largest corporations have halted donations to the Republican members of Congress who objected to certifying the election of Joe Biden. Sheelah Kolhatkar joins Dorothy Wickenden to discuss Big Tech’s new opposition to Trump’s rhetoric and the role that social-media platforms play in government.

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Transcript

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0:44.0	Things people love.
0:48.5	This is the political scene, a weekly conversation with New Yorker writers and guests about politics.
0:56.5	It's Thursday, January 14th.
1:02.9	I'm Dorothy Wickenden, executive editor of The New Yorker. For four years, Donald Trump has lurched from scandal to scandal, never facing significant consequences for his actions, even after he was
1:09.0	impeached on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
1:12.6	In the final days of his presidency, that is changing.
1:16.6	Yesterday, the House voted to impeach Trump for the second time for inciting an insurrection against the government.
1:23.6	Ten Republicans supported the move, and many others in the party, including Senate
1:29.3	Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have expressed their disgust at the president's role in provoking
1:34.4	the mob storming of the Capitol on January 6th. But perhaps as significant for a presidency
1:40.3	built on social media is big text sudden severing of ties with Trump.
1:46.1	Twitter permanently suspended his personal account.
1:49.5	Facebook suspended his accounts at least until after the inauguration.
	...

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