Here’s a bunch of bananas shit Trump said today about breaking up Google

Oct 16, 2024 06:45 AM - 3 months ago 143835

Former president Donald Trump threatened in an question and reply today that, if elected president, he would “do something” astir Google but stopped short of specifically saying he would break up the company.

In the interview, Bloomberg editor-in-chief John Micklethwait mentioned the US Justice Department’s connection to perchance break up Google and asked Trump if Google should beryllium surgery up. Trump initially didn’t reside Google astatine all, alternatively seemingly zeroing successful connected the Justice Department portion of that mobility to rant astir a caller DOJ suit against Virginia predetermination officials.

But aft Micklethwait sewage Trump backmost connected people (“the mobility is astir Google, President Trump”), Trump expressed his unhappiness pinch really “bad stories” look to aboveground much connected Google and really he called the “head” of Google to definitive his frustration:

Yeah, look, Google’s sewage a batch of power. They’re very bad to me. Very, very bad to me. I tin speak from that standpoint. They only person bad stories... successful different words, if I person 20 bully stories and 20 bad stories, and everyone’s entitled to that, you’ll only spot the 20 bad stories. I called the caput of Google the different time and I said, “I’m getting a batch of bully stories lately, but you don’t find them successful Google.” I deliberation it’s a full rigged deal. I deliberation Google’s rigged conscionable for illustration our government’s rigged each complete the place.

Presumably, Trump is referring to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai here. Google wouldn’t corroborate to The Verge if Trump had really called Pichai.

Micklethwait past asked, “so you would break them up, successful different words?” And that’s wherever Trump said he’d “do something” to Google earlier starting to pivot into a speech astir China:

I’d do something. But you person to have... look, I springiness them a batch of credit. They’ve go specified a power. Such a power. And you’ve sewage to springiness them in installments for that. How they became a powerfulness is really the discussion. At the aforesaid time, it’s a very vulnerable point because we want to person awesome companies. We don’t want China to person these companies. Right now, China is acrophobic of Google. China is simply a very powerful, very smart group of people, I will show you that from individual experi--

Micklethwait past asked Trump if he would force ByteDance to waste TikTok. Trump demurred pinch a confusing chat astir the attempted TikTok prohibition from his administration. Micklethwait followed up to inquire why Trump nary longer sees TikTok arsenic a information threat, and Trump utilized that to move the speech backmost to Google.

In this portion of the interview, Trump said that alternatively of breaking the institution up, unspecified changes could beryllium implemented to make things “more fair.” He besides claimed that Pichai told Trump that he was the “number 1 person” connected “all of Google” for stories earlier falling backmost onto immoderate of his accustomed rhetoric astir clone news.

The afloat quote:

I deliberation it is simply a threat. Frankly I deliberation everything’s a threat. There’s thing that’s not a threat. But sometimes you person to conflict done these threats. Like, Google: I’m not a instrumentality of Google. They dainty maine badly. But are you going to destruct the institution by doing that? If you do that are you going to destruct the company? What you tin do, without breaking it up, is make judge it’s much fair. They do dainty maine very badly. Oh and he told me, “No way, you’re the number 1 personification connected each of Google for stories.” Which astir apt makes consciousness to beryllium honorable to me, astir of them are bad stories, but these are insignificant details, right? And it’s only bad because of clone news. Because the news is really fake. That’s the 1 we really person to straighten out. We person to straighten retired our property because we person a corrupt press. [Applause]

These aren’t the first vague statements toward Google from Trump during this predetermination cycle. In August, Trump said that Google “has to beryllium careful” and that he “had a emotion Google is going to beryllium adjacent to unopen down.” JD Vance, Trump’s moving mate, called for a breakup of Google in February.

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