[See NewsBusters for more.] Whether it's the response to COVID-19 or the consulate in Houston being ordered closed, whenever a China-related controversy is the news, MSNBC wonders if President Trump is just looking for a distraction. Such was the case on Tuesday's MSNBC Live where host Katy Tur wondered if Trump's announcement that the U.S. would banning TikTok and later consideration of a possible buyout by Microsoft was "because he needed a distraction."
Amazingly, Tur began by conceding that many people, not just Trump, have concerns about TikTok, but yet wondered what the big deal is, "So what exactly is behind President Trump's threat to ban the video app TikTok. Critics including lawmakers have claimed that TikTok is a national security threat because the parent company ByteDance is based in China and required to turn over user data to Beijing, no definitive proof yet of a threat to national security so why is the president pushing this issue now?"