TikTokTrends Week: 11
September 28 - October 4
Hi!
Welcome to week 11 of TikTokTrends.
This week was crazy. We had the debate, Trump tested positive for Covid-19, and I learned that most of us have paid more taxes than Trump paid in 2017.
This week, I will be talking about #TrumpHasCovid, #PresidentialDebate, and #TrumpsTaxReturns.
Let’s get started!
#TrumpHasCovid
Obviously, the biggest news of the week was Trump contracting Covid-19. Not only Trump but at the time of writing this, 10 others close to the president have tested positive. Many of them can be seen at the Rose Garden reception where Trump nominated Amy Coney Barret to the Supreme Court.
Although the reception was held outside, New York Times reports that there was also an indoor portion of the event, where guests were seen standing and talking very close to each other without wearing masks, as if we were not in a pandemic.
The president was recently discharged from the Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington and has posted several videos and pictures on his Twitter account, trying to let the American people know that he is doing well.
The video above shows a crowd of Trump supporters chanting “four more years” with the captions reading ‘Outside the Walter Reed Hospital.’ Although there were crowds at the Walter Reed Hospital, this video does not show that crowd. Instead, the video shows Trump Supporters in Staten Island, sending their good wishes to Donald Trump. The video was originally posted by Nicole Malliotakis, a member of the NY State assembly currently running for a seat in Congress.
The video has gotten 35 thousand views in a matter of hours and is gaining popularity. Although not trending, the video being a clear example of misinformation, it was important to note.
The TikTok community reacted in two different ways to the news that Trump was hospitalized. Many on the republican side can be seen creating videos in support of Donald Trump, asking for viewers to pray for him, and sharing the actual crowd around the hospital.
While content creators on the other side used their platform to create jokes and memes, like this video with the caption “Joe Biden entering his office after Trump gets corona.” Others focused on why they don’t feel sad about the president testing positive for Covid-19. Many believe that it is karma, pointing to a clip from the Debate where Trump made fun of Biden for wearing a mask.
Soon after Trump was hospitalized, former White House counselor, Kellyanne Conway, tweeted that she too has tested positive for Covid-19. However, the TikTok community knew this 30 minutes before her tweet. Her daughter, Claudia Conway, 15, who is an anti-Trump content creator, posted on TikTok that her mother has tested positive for Covid-19.
Her video went viral and was picked up by numerous news outlets. Claudia took it to TikTok to express her feelings about trending as a 15-year-old. She started a TikTok Live, where about 11 thousand people were watching at one point. She called out journalists for “not caring about a 15-year-old’s mental health,” saying that she is getting death threats for the content she creates, and news outlets are amplifying it for their own monetary gains.
#PresidentialDebate
This week, on September 29th, we had the first Presidential debate of the 2020 election. The debate was held in Cleveland, with Chris Wallace from Fox News as the moderator. The debate was widely regarded as one of the worst debates in history, where both candidates talked over each other, yelled, and called each other names. At one point, Wallace had to raise his voice at both candidates to keep them quiet.
The most notable moments included Trump attacking Biden’s son, Biden calling Trump a clown, Trump asking the Proud Boys to “stand by”, and Biden using the word “Inshallah,” which means god willing, during the debate.
This video of Jake Tapper saying “That was a hot mess, inside a dumpster fire, inside a train wreck” has gone viral. Accumulating over 5 million views in 4 days, Tapper was able to say what many people were thinking about during the debate.
On TikTok, short clips of the debate were shared by many news outlets, generating millions of views of some of the memorable moments during the debate.
“You are the worst president America has ever had.” – NBC News.
“Beau Biden was not a loser.” – USA Today.
“Will you shut up, man?” – Yahoo News
A content creator on the platform with the nickname, Ironno, created a funny video of Biden saying ‘Inshallah’ that is definitely worth watching. The video is celebrating the fact that an American politician used the word “Inshallah.”
Many conservative and Democratic-leaning creators were live on TikTok during the debate. They were sharing their opinions and reacting to the punches both sides were throwing at each other.
Conservative creators used their platforms to fact-check what they saw during the Debate. TheRepublicanHypeHouse created a video fact-checking the white supremacy comment made by Trump, saying that he, in fact, did say ‘sure’ when asked would he condemn white supremacy.
This is true, however, saying “sure” is not the same as condemning white supremacists. Saying ‘stand by’ is also not a form of condemnation that I am familiar with. Although Trump in the past has condemned white supremacists, during the debate, saying ‘sure’ and telling the Proud Boys to ‘stand by’ is not the way to do it. Trump has later gone on Hannity to condemn white supremacists and Proud Boys.
Other creators focused on Hunter Biden being accused of being ‘dishonorably discharged’ by Trump, and Biden saying it is not true. In actuality, it is not true, as Biden pointed out. Yes, Hunter Biden was discharged, but it was not dishonorably; it was an administrative discharge.
A left-leaning content creator called Levi created a sound by stitching together a song by Hamilton star, Daveed Diggs, with the lyrics saying “Donald Trump is a white supremacist, full stop” and Trump saying “Stand back and stand by” to the proud boys. The sound has been used over 4 thousand times, quickly gaining millions of views.
#TrumpsTaxReturns
At the beginning of the week, Trump’s tax returns were leaked, which caused a large amount of backlash. New York Times did a piece about all of the ins and outs of the tax return they have obtained, showing Trump’s finances and that he paid $750 in federal taxes in 2017. This was, of course, one of the debate questions, and Trump said he has paid millions of dollars in taxes.
The video above was created by Emily Senn, a TikTok creator who makes videos singing and covering songs by changing their lyrics. The song above was originally created by 4 Non Blondes back in 1993. Senn changed the lyrics and created a parody song focusing on Trump paying $750 in tax. The video has been watched over 2 million times, with over 2 thousand other videos created from the song Senn made.
Another great video about the same issue that flew under the radar was created by the user, Michjnap. He used a scene from Schitt’s Creek that talks about what write-offs are and added some captions to make the situation relevant to the Trump tax issue. It is a must-watch in my book.
Honorable mentions:
I came across a Police Department that has an official TikTok page. The Southeastern Louisiana University Police Department. In addition to creating the standard videos you would expect from a TikTok page, dance moves, and songs, the UPD also focuses on engaging students who go to the Southeastern Louisiana University. The account creates treasure hunt challenges, asks for input from students, and aims to create a conversation and push campus safety through their videos. This is a very creative example of how TikTok can be used by anyone to engage the right audience. The account mainly focuses on Officer Maddi; however, the chief is also involved and approves of the account. The account has 1.2 million likes and 156 thousand followers. For a small university police department, that is not bad at all.
Have you ever wondered what job the guy driving the Ferrari does? Well, so have I, and apparently millions of others. This week, a video of Daniel Macdonald asking drivers of luxury automobiles what work they do for a living went viral. The account has only 3 videos and has accumulated over 35 million views in one week. The answers from the drivers he asked ranged from ‘selling drugs’ to ‘Doctor.’
That is all I have for you this week! Please share this newsletter if you enjoyed reading it! Also, please don’t be shy to send me an email about what you think I should cover, or if I have missed anything. - Here is my Twitter!
Thank you for reading, hope to see you next week!