Former Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D – CA), gave an impassioned but somewhat sloppy speech about social media giant TikTok, suspected by many of being a data harvesting operation for China. Her speech, which involved a wild reference to “tic-tac-toe,” the children’s game, sparked speculation and jokes on the internet about the aging congresswoman’s mental capacity and political ability.
As background, Congress is currently trying to pass a bill that would force the sale of TikTok to an American company so that the potential flow of data to China can be stopped. The bill quickly passed through the House of Representatives, but has not made it through the Senate, where it faces holdups from those who allege it is a violation of the first Amendment.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi took the side of the bill, claiming it would help TikTok rather than ban it and would somehow help Chinese and Tibetan dissidents. Waving her hands somewhat erratically to illustrate her point, Rep. Pelosi launched into her speech, given in mid-March, 2024, by referencing tic-tac-toe and claiming the bill would improve TikTok, saying, “This is not a ban on TikTok. It’s an attempt to make TikTok better. Tic-tac-toe. A winner! A winner!”
Continuing she rambled about “the people of China,” saying, they “have come forth,” but not really connecting that to her larger argument. She said, “The people of China have come forth… they are suppressed. They cannot put their message out. A winner. And here’s what I have to say. The people of China have come forth. The Tibetans have come forth and said on TikTok in China, they are suppressed.”
Predictably, Pelosi was roasted for the weird speech about TikTok and “tic tac toe.” One commenter on X wrote, “Nancy pelosi soft-launching her new social media video app ‘Tic-Tac-Toe.'” Another said, “i think nancy pelosi might be confusing tiktok w a game she used to play as a child where she’d scribble onto stone.”
Still another joked that Pelosi was in “clown world,” saying, “Meanwhile in clown world… Nancy Pelosi: ‘This is not an attempt to ban TikTok it’s an attempt to make TikTok better. Tic-tac-toe… a winner, a winner,’” another user on X wrote. “I think she’s drunk again folks.” Yet another commenter added, “Yeah right, we should really believe the feds care about making social media better.”
Watch her here:
Sen. Rand Paul torched the TikTok bill after it was passed by the House, saying, “TikTok is banned in China,” Paul said. “We’re thinking – or people who want to ban it are thinking – Wow, we’re going to really defeat the Chinese communists, by becoming Chinese authoritarians and banning it in our country? TikTok is banned in China. So, we’re going to emulate the Chinese communists by banning it in our country?” He added, “It makes no sense whatsoever.” Many commenters on social media agreed, arguing that the bill was a ridiculous violation of the First Amendment.
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
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