Breaking News: TikTok’s Great Escape: Trump, Xi, and the App That Refuses to Die

TikTok’s Great Escape: Trump, Xi, and the App That Refuses to Die

TikTok, the app once on life support in Washington, is strutting back onto the U.S. stage like a pop star who just faked her own farewell tour. After years of political brinkmanship, courtroom drama, and enough deadline extensions to make a college student blush, President Trump announced Monday that a deal with China has been struck to keep TikTok alive in America. The news comes after endless speculation about who would rescue the app beloved by teenagers, influencers, and, let’s be honest, more than a few politicians’ campaign teams.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who broke the news from Madrid, credited Trump with swooping in to save the day. “Without his leadership and the leverage he provides, we would not have been able to include the deal today,” Bessent said. Translation: Trump told everyone to cut the drama and let the kids keep dancing. The final touches will reportedly be ironed out in a call between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday, in what may be the most-watched long-distance business chat since Zoom took off.

So who’s buying TikTok’s American dream? Enter Larry Ellison, the Oracle founder, yacht enthusiast, and occasional richest man alive, who seems destined to be the app’s knight in shining spreadsheets. Analysts believe Ellison is leading the U.S.-backed investor group ready to pony up the tens of billions necessary to snag TikTok’s coveted algorithm—the digital drug that keeps 170 million U.S. users scrolling until sunrise. For Ellison, this isn’t his first TikTok tango. Oracle was nearly crowned savior back in 2020, only for that deal to get swatted away. This time, with Trump back in the White House and wielding his pen like a conductor’s baton, the symphony may finally reach its crescendo.

It’s been a bizarre political love story. Trump once wanted to ban TikTok, warning of national security threats. Then Congress and President Biden actually made that happen, passing a law that banned the app unless ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, coughed up its U.S. operations. But the app didn’t just vanish. Trump kept extending the deadlines, citing everything from national security to the fact that TikTok may have given him a vital boost with younger voters in 2024. Apparently, nothing says “MAGA” quite like thirst traps and viral dance challenges.

China, meanwhile, has been reluctant to hand over the goods, but with trade talks heating up and Trump planning a swing through Asia later this fall, Beijing suddenly decided it was time to play ball. That, plus China’s own crackdown on U.S. tech companies like Nvidia, made this deal look less like a surrender and more like a diplomatic quid pro quo.

The result: TikTok won’t be vanishing from American phones anytime soon. For now, influencers can keep lip-syncing, comedians can keep mining clout from viral skits, and politicians can keep pretending they don’t secretly check the “For You” page before breakfast. As Trump teased in his latest Truth Social post, “Young people in our Country very much wanted to save [it]. They will be very happy!”

So cue the celebratory memes, America. TikTok has dodged the executioner’s axe once again. And if you thought the saga was over, just wait until Friday’s Trump-Xi phone call. Who knows—maybe we’ll all be scrolling through a viral dance about trade policy by the weekend.