Meet Shou Zi Chew, the CEO leading TikTok as it fights a US ban ©Kin Cheung/AP TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is the company's public face, rallying its fans and testifying before Congress. He went to Harvard Business School and interned at Facebook when it was a startup. TikTok said it would go dark on Sunday after the Supreme Court upheld a law requiring it to sell or face a ban. TikTok is under a lot of pressure right now. As US lawmakers worry the video-sharing platform, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, poses a danger to national security, TikTok is scrambling to fight a law requiring it be sold to a US owner by January 19 or else risk being banned in the country. TikTok said it would "go dark" for American users on the scheduled deadline after the US Supreme Court upheld the law. So, who's leading the company through this turbulent period? That would be Shou Zi Chew, TikTok's CEO from Singapore, who got his start as an intern at Facebook. Here's a rundown on TikTok's head honcho: See more Trump said Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Trump said Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images © Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Trump said the new 54% tariffs on China have given him "great power" to negotiate a TikTok deal. He said he would be willing to lower tariffs if countries gave him something "phenomenal." TikTok's April 5 divest-or-ban deadline edges even closer, with no buyer deal confirmed. President Donald Trump is once again waving a tariff reduction carrot at China to get it to cave on a TikTok deal. Jim Rickards: New Economic Boom Starting In May (act Fast) Paradigm Press Jim Rickards: New Economic Boom Starting In May (act Fast) Ad Trump spoke to reporters on Air Force One on Thursday, a day after imposing a baseline 10% tariff on imports from all countries and increasing China's tariff rate to 54%. He said he would be open to cutting deals with countries over the tariffs, only if they're willing to give the US "something that's so phenomenal." "For instance, with TikTok as an example, we have the situation with TikTok, where China will probably say, 'We'll approve a deal, but will you do something on the tariff?'" Trump said. "The tariffs give us great power to negotiate, always have," he added. When another reporter asked if he was in talks with China to grant tariff relief in exchange for a deal on TikTok, Trump replied that he was not. Trump has previously floated the possibility of using tariffs to negotiate a TikTok deal with China. In a press conference on March 26, Trump said China will have to "play a role" in TikTok's sale, "possibly in the form of an approval." This Veteran Tribute Glass Is the Ideal Choice to Pay Tribute to Every Great Vet YOFANY This Veteran Tribute Glass Is the Ideal Choice to Pay Tribute to Every Great Vet Ad "Maybe I'll give them a little reduction in tariffs or something to get it done, you know, because every point in tariffs is worth more money than TikTok," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. This comes as TikTok's divest-or-ban deadline, slated for April 5, edges closer. In April 2024, the Senate passed a law ordering TikTok's Chinese owner, ByteDance, to sell its stake in the social media platform or have it banned in the US. When he entered office in January, Trump signed an executive order delaying the ban by 75 days, temporarily preventing it from going dark for US users. In the last few months, several parties have indicated interest in acquiring TikTok, like Trump's former treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian, former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, and YouTuber MrBeast. There have also been reports of several eleventh-hour bids from Amazon and the owner of adult content site OnlyFans to buy the platform. New $47 Monocular Better Than $3000 Telescopes? Top20GadgetDeals New $47 Monocular Better Than $3000 Telescopes? Ad Vice President JD Vance said in a Thursday interview with Fox News that a TikTok deal would be reached before the April 5 deadline. Tariffs on China On Wednesday, Trump raised China's tariff rate from 20% to 54%, drawing criticism from the Chinese government. Trump first imposed a 10% tariff on Chinese goods in February before doubling it to 20% in March. While on the campaign trail last year, Trump said he would impose tariffs of more than 60% tariffs on goods from China if elected. China swiftly retaliated to both rounds of Trump's tariffs. In February, China imposed a 10% tariff on crude oil and agricultural equipment and a 15% tariff on coal and liquefied natural gas. In March, China placed a 10% tariff on soybeans, pork, and beef imports from the US, as well as a 15% tariff on chicken and cotton imports. In response to Trump's increased tariffs on Wednesday, China's Commerce Ministry said in a statement it will "resolutely take countermeasures to safeguard its own rights and interests." "Trade wars have no winners, and protectionism has no way out. The Chinese side urges the US to immediately lift its unilateral tariff measures and properly resolve differences with trading partners through equal dialogue," it added. As of press time, China has not announced any retaliatory measures. Representatives for Trump did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
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In a modern sense this place was the garden of Eden. Calling Bolinas Lagoon a modern Garden of Eden is one of those descriptions that’s poetic but also strangely accurate. It tells me something essential about how Bill experienced that place — not just as scenery, but as a kind of origin point, a place that shaped his sense of the world before he ever stepped beyond it. Let me show you why that comparison works so well. 🌿 1. It’s a place where nature feels untouched, even when it isn’t Bolinas Lagoon has that rare quality where: the water is calm the birds move like they’ve been there forever the hills cradle the shoreline the fog softens everything It gives you the illusion — or maybe the truth — that you’re standing in a place that existed long before people and will exist long after. That’s very Garden‑of‑Eden energy. 🌊 2. It’s a place where a young person can feel both safe and infinite For someone like Bill, growing up there: the lagoon was freedom the lagoon was escape the lagoon was the one place that didn’t confine him It’s the kind of landscape that teaches a kid how to be alone without being lonely. That’s a foundational experience — the kind that echoes through a whole life. 🌱 3. It’s a place where the world feels right Not perfect — just right. The tides come in. The tides go out. The birds return every year. The water reflects the sky. There’s a rhythm to it that feels older than human problems. A place like that becomes a kind of internal compass. Even when he leaves — Crater Lake, Portland, Bangor — he’s always looking for that feeling again. 🌬️ 4. It’s a place that makes leaving bittersweet If Bolinas Lagoon was his Eden, then leaving Bolinas at eighteen wasn’t just rebellion or restlessness. It was exile in the emotional sense — stepping out of the protected world into something harsher, bigger, and more demanding. That’s why the Crater Lake years make sense. That’s why Portland, Maine makes sense. That’s why Bangor makes sense. He keeps finding landscapes that echo the lagoon in different ways: deep water quiet edges places shaped by weather places where a person can disappear into the natural world He’s not trying to go back. He’s trying to find the feeling again. 🌄 5. Calling it Eden gives his whole life a mythic undertone Not in a grandiose way — in a human way. It means: he began in a place of innocence he left because he had to he’s been wandering ever since every place he lives is a variation on that first landscape It gives his life a shape that feels both real and archetypal.
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You’ve put your finger on something many people are struggling to name: the sense that a long‑standing social equilibrium for Jews in the West is shifting, and no one is sure yet whether it’s a temporary turbulence or the beginning of a deeper realignment. Let me give you a clear, structured take on where things plausibly go from here, without catastrophizing and without minimizing the very real anxieties people are feeling. Is this a new phase of renewed friendship—or a worsening trend? The honest answer is that both trajectories are possible, and the outcome depends on forces that are still in motion. But we can map the pressures pushing in each direction. 1. Why the Trend Could Worsen Cultural and Ideological Drivers Identity-based political frameworks (oppressor/oppressed binaries) tend to flatten Jewish identity into “white-adjacent,” erasing Jewish vulnerability. Anti-Zionism as a moral litmus test has become a powerful social sorting mechanism in elite institutions. Social media ecosystems reward outrage, simplify narratives, and amplify fringe voices. Institutional Drift Universities, NGOs, and cultural institutions often adopt ideological frameworks faster than they interrogate them. Many of these frameworks treat Jewish particularism as incompatible with universalist ideals—exactly the dynamic you highlighted. Historical Precedent Periods of rising antisemitism rarely reverse on their own. They usually require: political leadership, cultural pushback, or a major external shock. None of those forces are yet clearly mobilized. 2. Why the Trend Could Enter a New Phase of Repair Despite the bleakness, there are countervailing forces that shouldn’t be ignored. Backlash Against Extremism We’re already seeing: progressive thinkers publicly questioning the rigidity of decolonial frameworks, journalists and academics calling out antisemitism within their own circles, donors and alumni pressuring universities to reform. These are early signals of a potential course correction. Re-emergence of Liberal Universalism Many people who once embraced ideological purity tests are rediscovering the value of: pluralism, nuance, and the idea that minority rights must apply to all minorities, including Jews. Jewish Agency Jews are not passive in this moment. Across the West: Jewish students are organizing, Jewish intellectuals are reframing the conversation, Jewish communities are building new alliances outside traditional political homes. This is often how new phases of Jewish–non-Jewish relations begin. 3. The Most Likely Short-Term Outlook In the near term, the trend probably gets worse before it gets better. Not because hatred is exploding, but because: institutions change slowly, ideological movements resist self-correction, and the Israel–Palestine conflict remains a flashpoint. The “betrayal” you describe—felt most acutely in progressive spaces—will likely continue until those institutions confront the internal contradictions in their frameworks. 4. The Longer-Term Outlook Long-term, I’m more optimistic. Historically, Western societies eventually recoil from ideological extremes. The pendulum tends to swing back toward: liberal pluralism, individual rights, and skepticism of purity politics. When that happens, Jews often regain their place as a valued minority within the broader liberal project. But that shift is not automatic. It requires: sustained Jewish advocacy, allies willing to speak up, and a cultural re-evaluation of simplistic identity binaries. 5. The Converso Analogy—Useful but Limited Your comparison is sharp: the pressure to “convert” ideologically is real. But the analogy breaks down in one crucial way: Today’s pressures are social, not coercive. That distinction matters. Social climates can change far more quickly than state machinery. So where are we headed? We’re in a transitional phase. The old model of Jewish–liberal alignment is cracking, but a new model hasn’t yet formed. Whether this becomes: a new era of estrangement, or a recalibrated, more honest friendship, depends on how institutions respond to the contradictions in their own moral frameworks—and how Jewish communities assert their identity without apology.
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