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Source: Kevin Carter / Getty / Donald Trump / TikTok
TikTok’s “savior,” Donald Trump, has given TikTok more time to secure a sale, but it’s still unclear if his actions will delay the platform’s ban in the United States.
On his first unfortunate day back in office, Monday, January 20, Donald Trump put his ugly a** signature to paper, signing an executive order stalling the federal ban on TikTok for 75 days.
According to the New York Times, the executive order instructs the Attorney General, presumably a Trump loyalist, and his former attorney, Pam Bondi, not to enforce the ban, giving his sorry administration “an opportunity to determine the appropriate course forward.”
When signing the executive order, Trump told reporters that if a deal is struck, “the U.S. should be entitled to get half of TikTok.”
According to the New York Times, the executive order could face legal challenges, specifically on his having the power to stop a federal law.
Donald Trump “Gets” TikTok Now
Trump’s executive action comes after TikTok hilariously banned itself early Saturday night, flipping the switch and turning off service in the U.S., and then turning back on Sunday following Trump’s announcement that he planned to sign an EO.
When users launched the app, they were greeted by a notification from TikTok telling them they could use the service stateside once again. They thanked Donald Trump for his help, sparking instant reactions from users who called the whole moment a stunt, likening it to Trump delaying stimulus checks so that he could put his signature on them.
When asked about his change of heart about TikTok, Trump told reporters, “Because I got to use it…TikTok is largely about young kids…if China is gonna get information about young kids, I don’t know.”
Donald Trump is asked about TikTok:
“Every rich person has called me about TikTok.”
Asked why he delayed the ban:
“Because I got to use it…TikTok is largely about young kids…if China is gonna get information about young kids, I dunno.”
Wow…just…wow. pic.twitter.com/M052GgekMO
— Art Candee 🍿🥤 (@ArtCandee) January 21, 2025
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LMAO, WHAT?
We shall see what happens with TikTok because the platform’s future still looks shaky despite its CEO, Shou Zi Chew, kissing the ring right now.
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Source: SOPA Images / Getty / TikTok
Welp, it’s not looking good for everyone’s favorite social media platform, TikTok. The Supreme Court upheld the law banning the app in the U.S. if its Chinese owner, ByteDance, couldn’t facilitate a sale.
The clock officially ran out after TikTok’s final attempt to continue operating in the United States. The Supreme Court delivered the death blow, upholding a lower court ruling that ByteDance must sell the app by January 19 due to national security concerns.
“There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community,” an unsigned opinion from the justices read. “But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary. For the foregoing reasons, we conclude that the challenged provisions do not violate petitioners’ First Amendment rights.”
The ban would go into effect under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Controlled Applications Act that President Joe Biden signed.
TikTok’s future in the United States is in dire jeopardy due to no sale on the table that could save it from the ban, forcing social media influencers to find another platform to do their “influencing” to continue making a living.
TikTok’s Fate Is In The Hands of Donald Trump
The outgoing Biden administration is punting on the matter, leaving TikTok’s fate in the hands of the platform’s newest “fan,” President-elect Donald Trump, who said to CNN, “It ultimately goes up to me, so you’re going to see what I’m going to do.”
“Given the sheer fact of timing, the administration recognizes that actions to implement the law simply must fall to the next administration, which takes office on Monday,” the Biden administration said.
“President Biden’s position on TikTok has been clear for months, including since Congress sent a bill in overwhelming, bipartisan fashion to the president’s desk: TikTok should remain available to Americans, but simply under American ownership or other ownership that addresses national security concerns identified by Congress in developing this law,” the statement read by White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre said fresh off the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Trump also confirmed on his sh*tty platform Truth Social that he has spoken with China’s president Xi Jinping, claiming that he brought up TikTok during the conversation, whatever that means.
So What’s Going To Happen With TikTok?
When the ban officially begins, it will be up to the Google and Apple APP stores to enforce it and keep it from being available to users or face potential fines.
According to Deadline, the roughly 187 million Americans currently using the app will still have access to it, but they will not receive routine updates, rendering it a shell.
According to The Information, TikTok is prepared to go dark in the U.S. on Sunday, but the company could also “wait and see” what the Trump administration does.
Who Are The Potential Buyers?
During the previous nightmare that was Donald Trump’s first term, he was in favor of banning or forcing a sale of the app before his flip-flopping on the matter.
Deadline notes that he cannot stop the bipartisan legislation, but he could ask his incoming “Justice Department” not to enforce the ban.
There were rumors that China was considering Elon Musk’s potential purchase of TikTok. What could go wrong with this man owning another social media platform? TikTok has denied those claims.
Even Canadian Trump fan and Shark Tank cast member Kevin O’Leary is part of a formal bid submitted by Frank McCourt-founded Internet advocacy group Project Liberty to potentially buy TikTok without its algorithm to allow the 170 American users to “preserve the platform’s vibrant community, while also giving 170 million American TikTokers the ability to control, protect, and benefit from their data.”
We shall see what happens with the platform, but it looks like it’s a wrap right now.
You can see reactions to the news in the gallery below.
2. What is wrong with y’all ?
3. There might be some truth to this
4. Never forget!
5. Interesting take on the matter
8. Well, you should ask the GOP about most of those matters, TikTok was the only thing Republicans and Democrats agreed on
10. Womp, womp, womp
12. We shall see if his warming up to Donald Trump will help him in the long run
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Source: Gilbert Carrasquillo / Getty / Lil Kim
Lil Kim meant well with her prayers in an attempt to offer support to those impacted by LA wildfires, but praying for another natural disaster to help deal with the current didn’t land well on social media.
The Brooklyn rapper came under fire after she posted a prayer of support on her Instagram Stories, asking for a miracle—a monsoon—to help douse the flames currently wreaking havoc across Los Angeles.
“I’ve Been sending strong prayers up for LA and everyone affected by the fires. “
“This is heartbreaking. I pray to Jesus that God make [sic] it monsoon in LA.”
A monsoon is “a periodic wind especially in the Indian Ocean and southern Asia,” per dictionary.com.
Monsoons are nothing to wish or pray for; they cause extensive damage, such as flooding and water damage, wash away crops, destroy water, and cause hygiene issues.
Hilariously the post is still up, but she damn sure turned the comments off.
That didn’t stop people from reacting to her praying for a monsoon.
“So they can add Landslides & Mudslides to the mix? Nah,” one person on X, formerly Twitter, wrote.
Others sympathized with the “Crush On You” crafter but still wished she hadn’t hit the post button.
“God knows we means, but I just wish she didn’t post this shit. There are some things that just gotta be sacred,” another user on X wrote.
Lil Kim Responds To The Criticism
Lil Kim has since responded to criticism for her post and clarified she meant rain, but for whatever reason, is still pushing for a monsoon, which would be worse than a rainy day.
“What’s happening is devastating and what LA really needs right now is rain—so what’s the issue? Doesn’t everyone understand that a monsoon is heavy rain? I’m so happy to see that everyone is staying so positive during such a tragic situation. Let’s keep praying and supporting everyone that has been affected by this,” Kim wrote on X.
She didn’t help her because she added a screenshot of the definition of a monsoon thinking it would quiet the haters.
For anyone that’s confused. Any questions? pic.twitter.com/S7yXDeTQxV
— Lil’ Kim (@LilKim) January 16, 2025
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Spoiler alert: it only made things worse.
Doubling down is crazy https://t.co/cEit0s2u6q
— Meeka Meanz (@datassholemeeka) January 16, 2025
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We are sure she meant send rain, but lord, she should have someone proofread that joint before posting it.
You can see more reactions in the gallery below.
1. Pretty much
4. It definitely is not the best answer
8. Y’all out of pocket
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TikTok, the wildly popular social media app that has made stars among some of its users and exploded as a commerce hub, is under the threat of being banned or forced to sell off its assets. With the threat of TikTok going away, thousands of users are flocking to the Chinese social media app RedNote and discovering a new community in the process.
The United States Supreme Court is currently weighing a decision on a law that would ban TikTok in the country over national security concerns and the fact it is owned by a Chinese company. The proposed deadline is January 19, and the nation’s highest court has previously heard arguments from the social media brand’s parent company ByteDance and the incoming Trump administration’s position thus far is to keep access open to the app in the States.
RedNote, which is also known as Xiaohongshu, first launched in 2013 as a shopping destination but now has expanded into a full-on social media hub where users share various forms of content including the short-form video format TikTok is known for. According to a report from Reuters, over 700,000 users joined RedNote in the course of two days with a reported 50,000 Americans among that number but pales in comparison to the roughly 150 million American users of TikTok.
RedNote is currently the second most popular free app on Apple’s App Store. The outlet also added that Lemon8, which is a social media app owned by ByteDance, has seen increased user numbers as well.
On X, the massive social media defection is being documented with some revealing the language barriers users are facing and how some Americans are helping Chinese users improve their English. With some of the stringent laws in China, users have been careful in what they share and discuss on the app but the influx of users is seemingly welcomed.
We’ve got some reactions from X regarding the TikTok defection to RedNote below.
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Photo: Getty
According to Morning Consult, 57% of people born roughly between 1995 to 2010 aspire to become influencers and earn a living publishing their lives — or a fictional semblance of their real lives — on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. That means there has never been a greater need for simple solutions to license music.
Making synch licensing simple is key to capturing the potential in today’s creator economy, says Wendy Connell, vp of marketing at music synch startup Soundstripe. “How can we guide people through this complicated process and make it as easy as possible, and make sure that they know that they’re covered, it’s legal, and take care of all the complication for them?” she says.
Soundstripe has business customers, too, and its traditional synch (film, TV and movies) rose 87% in 2024. But personal users — influencers, hobbyists, students, etc. — account for 53% of its customers. With evidence growing that content creation is big business, there’s a huge opportunity for companies like Soundstripe that provide them with services — and the need for affordable music licensing could help grow a U.S. synch revenue market that was worth $411 million in 2023 (a number that includes only label revenue tracked by the RIAA) and probably more in 2024.
Trending on Billboard
The world is awash in content creators — the term for professional, semi-professional and amateur photographers and video makers who flood digital platforms with everything from cooking tips to travel videos to Amazon product recommendations. But making short videos for a living isn’t just an aspiration of the younger generations for whom Mr. Beast is the peak of celebrity and Kim Kardashian is the blueprint for turning fame into wealth. Morning Consult also found that 41% of all adults surveyed would choose the career: Across all age groups, millions of creators already operate at the sub-career level. And a November 2023 report by the Keller Advisory Group found there were 27 million paid creators in the U.S. aged 16 to 54. For a small group of them, being an influencer provides a six-figure annual income, but for most of the 27 million “micro-influencers,” annual income is less than $10,000. Regardless of how much they make, though, influencers are churning out content — much of it requiring music.
This supply of content exists because there is a massive, eager audience for creators’ videos and photos. Young consumers are spending their time on smartphones, not TVs: 60% of American teens spend four or more hours each day on social media on average, and nearly 30% are on social platforms for more than six hours per day. Older age groups also spend time on social media — the 55-64 age group logs two hours per day on average, according to eMarketer — but younger people skew toward short-form videos on TikTok while older consumers bank most of their social time on Facebook.
In the past, TV shows and movies provided a constant source for synch royalties for the use of a sound recording and its underlying musical work. Today, those traditional synch opportunities still exist, but influencers and other content creators are eroding legacy media’s viewing time. In July, YouTube accounted for more than 10% of TV viewing, according to Nielsen, becoming the first streaming platform to surpass the 10% threshold. That was more than Netflix, a TV juggernaut that commanded an 8.4% share, and Amazon Prime, a distant third amongst streaming platforms at 3.4%. All streaming platforms accounted for 41.4% of TV viewing, well ahead of cable (26.7%) and broadcast (20.3%).
But influencers need easy-to-use, affordable licensing options to stay out of legal trouble. Last year, companies such as Marriott, Bang Energy and OFRA Cosmetics were sued by music rights holders for using unlicensed music in influencer marketing. (Sony Music and Marriott ended their lawsuit while Bang Energy lost separate court cases against Sony and UMG in 2022.) While TikTok’s licensing deals allow users to incorporate music into their videos, they stop short of allowing corporations and the influencers they — or third-party firms — hire to use music for commercial purposes. Outside of influencer marketing, there are numerous other instances of companies using music without permission when simple, legal and affordable licensing options exist.
Aside from Soundstripe, platforms such as Epidemic Sound, PremiumBeat, Artlist and, most recently, The Rights provide royalty-free music, typically through a subscription model, that provide a wide range of mostly anonymous production music, though professional musicians and songwriters working under their stage names are largely absent from these platforms. While Soundstripe currently has in-house musicians to build its catalog, Connell says the company is working on bringing in record labels’ catalogs to offer to their customers. That would benefit artists and songwriters whose music isn’t available at Soundstripe and similar platforms and who would otherwise miss out on the rise of influencer culture — and the financial benefits that can come from tapping into it.
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Source: Chip Somodevilla / Getty
Footage of former President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump in conversation at the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter set social media buzzing, wondering about what took place.
On Thursday (January 9), the state funeral service for former President Jimmy Carter took place at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. As befitting the occasion, all of the former living presidents were in attendance including President-elect Donald Trump, who sat next to former President Barack Obama in the first two rows at the cathedral. Trump being near Obama caught the attention of many who tuned in to the broadcast of the funeral.
Obama and Trump yucking it up at Carter’s funeral pic.twitter.com/pRI24CnalF
— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) January 9, 2025
Observers noted that the two were cordial, with Obama listening to Trump and even cracking a smile here and there. It was a sight, considering the two have been publicly at odds with each other. In last year’s presidential campaign, when Obama was stumping for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, he famously attacked Trump in speeches at her rallies. Others noticed that former First Lady Michelle Obama was not at the service, while former First Lady Melania Trump sat to her husband’s left, visibly in a mood. Representatives for Mrs. Obama sent a statement saying: “Mrs. Obama sends her thoughts and prayers to the Carter family, and everyone who loved and learned from the remarkable former president.” They confirmed that she is in Hawai’i on an extended vacation, but did not offer insight on if she would be back to attend Trump’s inauguration on January 20.
The scene had many on social media in heightened conversation, with some belittling Obama for being cordial. Many more praised Obama for being the person deflecting Trump’s attention from everyone else who visibly did not want to speak to him – the most glaring example came as Trump greeted his former Vice President, Mike Pence, and his wife Karen Pence didn’t even move to greet him. Trump had attacked Pence in the hours before the January 6th attack on the Capitol building four years ago, where rioters had planned to hang Pence. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the “Wu-Tang Is For The Children” account noted how former President George W. Bush gave Obama a familial “belly tap” as he passed by to sit down next to him with former First Lady Laura Bush.
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Source: DREW ANGERER / Getty / Meta
Big tech CEOs continue to look weird and act dumb in the wake of the incoming Trump presidency. In what many see as a sign of capitulation, Mark Zuckerberg announced that his company, Meta, will end its fact-checking program and opt to go the X route with “community notes.”
With Elon Musk in his pocket, Jeff Bezos’ Amazon paying $40 million for Melania Trump’s life story, and Tim Cook contributing to the cost of Trump’s inauguration, Donald Trump’s rebranding on social media and in the tech space is well underway.
Today, Zuckerberg, who has taken that AI-generated image of him looking like the ultimate f*** boy very seriously and is now dressing like one in real life, announced the company will no longer be fact-checking content.
“Fact checkers have been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they’ve created,” Zuckerberg said in a video announcing the new heada** policy.” What started as a movement to be more inclusive has increasingly been used to shut down opinions and shut out people with different ideas, and it’s gone too far.”
Riiiiiiggghhhttt.
The Meta chief did note that there would be a “tradeoff” with the policy acknowledging that more “harmful” content will make its way onto timelines.
Donald Trump Winning Had Everything To Do With Meta’s Policy Shift
Meta’s newly appointed Chief of Global Affairs, Joel Kaplan, a prominent Republican, supports him. He adds that Meta’s relationship with third-party fact-checkers was “well-intentioned at the outset, but there’s just been too much political bias in what they choose to fact-check and how.”
Kaplan also admitted that Trump winning the 2024 presidential election was a reason for Meta’s policy shift, adding, “no question that there has been a change over the last four years. We saw a lot of societal and political pressure, all in the direction of more content, moderation more censorship, and we’ve got a real opportunity. Now, we’ve got a new administration, and a new president coming in who are big defenders of free expression, and that makes a difference.”
Note how Kaplan also throws the Biden administration under the bus here. Not very subtle. https://t.co/pQxlobk1KW
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 7, 2025
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Sources close to the situation tell CNN that Meta gave Trump’s team a heads-up before announcing the policy change. During an off-the-wall press conference, Orange Mussolini claimed that his bullying of Zuckerberg had influenced the company’s decision.
Q: Do you think Zuckerberg is responding to the threats you’ve made to him in the past?
TRUMP: Probably. Yeah. Probably. pic.twitter.com/1XT01KCDXc
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 7, 2025
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Another One Kisses The Trump Ring
This latest announcement comes as Zuckerberg has been out here glazing and doing his best to get in the good graces of the Orange Menace before his stench reenters the White House.
UFC CEO and big-time Trump ally Dana White joined the company’s board a day ago. Like Tim Cook, Meta has donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund, and Zuckerberg expressed a desire to play an “active role” in shaping tech policy in the Trump administration.
Also, like Cook, Zuckerberg is getting fried on social media for bowing down to Donald Trump.
This is 100% capitulation by Mark @finkd Zuckerberg. Just despicable https://t.co/upTKmJ7si8
— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) January 7, 2025
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Mark Zuckerberg is removing fact-checking from Meta. 👀
I hope most rational people are asking themselves why removing fact-checking is necessary for free speech and expression.
Only liars and con-artists don’t like being fact-checked. pic.twitter.com/RuER0Yhpt5
— Ryan Shead (@RyanShead) January 7, 2025
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This is definitely going to be a spooky four years. You can see more reactions in the gallery below.
2. Follow the money
3. Howling
4. Stay vigilant y’all. Avoid those crazy posts from your aunts and uncles
5. Well damn
7. Don’t fall for the jig
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Source: Tom Williams / Getty / Elon Musk
Elon Musk announced that his platform X will undergo more changes because he feels “too much negativity” is being pushed on it. Hilariously, he continues to be one of the culprits.
Phony Stark, aka Elon Musk, posted on his fledgling platform that an “algorithm tweak” was coming in response to “too much negativity” on X timelines.
Musk, who reluctantly purchased Twitter in October 2022, said in a post on his X account that he wanted to “maximize unregretted user-seconds. “Keep in mind Mr. Positivity also reinstated accounts of conservative accounts notorious for pushing negativity, like his new buddy President-Elect Donald Trump, who was banned on multiple social network platforms for inciting the January 6 riots at the capitol.
“Algorithm tweak coming soon to promote more informational/entertaining content. We will publish the changes to @XEng Our goal is to maximize unregretted user-seconds. Too much negativity is being pushed that technically grows user time, but not unregretted user time,” Musk wrote.
What made Musk’s announcement hilarious is that not too soon after it, he became one of the people he was trying to squash on X.
In response to a post from Joni Askola, a Finnish PHD candidate, that said, “Elon Musk is rapidly becoming the largest spreader of disinformation in human history, hijacking political debates in the process. The EU must take action!,” In reply to the post Musk wrote “F u retard.”
F u retard
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 6, 2025
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So much for positivity.
Social Media Roasts Elon Musk
Social media has also criticized Musk for not being able to practice what he preaches on his own platform.
“I understand Elon Musk wants positive posts here now. So I’m positive that Elon Musk is a f***ing idiot,” one user on X wrote.
Another post read, “This would mean something if X wasn’t the home of some of the most racist, homophobic, ignorant trolls and Russian bots on the planet.”
Welp.
The gallery below contains more reactions to Elon Musk’s announcement and his failure to practice what he preaches.
1. This X user is on to something
2. Maybe this post will be pushed due to its positivity
5. Possible jig spotted
6. Well damn
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Source: NurPhoto / Getty / Donald Trump / TikTok
TikTok is still facing a potential ban in the United States, but the popular social media platform might have found an unlikely savior in Donald Trump. Some folks can see the jig with this latest move.
In an interesting turn of events, Donald Trump, who has had a wishy-washy position on the matter, is now calling for the Supreme Court to pause the looming ban on the popular social media platform TikTok.
Trump’s take on the matter is in direct contrast to the Biden administration and some Republican, former Trump, and Democratic official’s stance that the Chinese-owned platform poses a “grave” threat to the country’s national security.
If TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, doesn’t sell TikTok to an American company, it will be officially banned on January 19, one day before Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Per NBC News:
“President Trump takes no position on the underlying merits of this dispute,” wrote D. John Sauer, Trump’s lawyer who is also the president-elect’s pick for U.S. solicitor general. “Instead, he respectfully requests that the Court consider staying the Act’s deadline for divestment of January 19, 2025, while it considers the merits of this case, thus permitting President Trump’s incoming Administration the opportunity to pursue a political resolution of the questions at issue in the case.”
The US Supreme Court decided to hear the case and fast-tracked the schedule for briefings and oral arguments, but it did not decide whether to consider TikTok’s request to pause the implementation of the ban.
Never Forget, Donald Trump Wanted TikTok Banned
Trump, who famously tried to ban TikTok in 2020 during his first failed presidency, is now claiming he can somehow negotiate a deal to “save” the platform after he met with the company’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, claiming he now has a “warm spot” for the platform.
“President Trump alone possesses the consummate dealmaking expertise, the electoral mandate, and the political will to negotiate a resolution to save the platform while addressing the national security concerns expressed by the Government—concerns which President Trump himself has acknowledged,” Sauer notes.
While the news of TikTok’s potential saving is making some people happy, there are many who see the move as a political one.
“Donald Trump’s reversal on the TikTok ban is the most billionaire thing ever. The president-elect, himself a billionaire, changed his mind because his billionaire donor Larry Ellison asked him to. Not good for democracy!” read one post on X, formally Twitter.
Another post on X read, “Hold the fuck on. The same Donald Trump who is threatening to “take back the Panama Canal” from PANAMA because it’s being “controlled by” the Chinese, has asked the Supreme Court to pause the law which would ban TikTok here unless it’s sold, thereby allowing the app to continue to be controlled by… the Chinese? Do I have that just about right?”
We can also see the jig.
You can see more reactions in the gallery below.
1. This video proves why Donald Trump isn’t the brightest person on the planet
2. Imperial fluffing
3. We guess
4. LOL, of course he doesn’t
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Source: The Washington Post / Getty
Donald Trump has been named TIME Magazine’s Person of The Year for the second time, and social media users displeased at the choice made their opinions known.
On Thursday (December 12), TIME Magazine announced that President-elect Donald Trump would be its Person of The Year for the second time. He had graced the cover of the publication after winning the presidential election back in 2016. To commemorate the occasion, Trump was at the New York Stock Exchange in lower Manhattan to ring the opening bell as his family stood nearby. Chants of “U-S-A!!” could be heard during the moment. “He has reshaped the American electorate, activating young male voters who propelled him to a decisive victory that saw him win the popular vote for the first time and turn every swing state red,” the outlet wrote in the issue.
“His 2024 win is history-making in multiple ways: he will be the oldest President in U.S. history, and he was convicted earlier this year by a New York jury of 34 counts of fraud, making him the first convicted felon to be elected President.”
Time’s editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs praised Trump in the magazine, writing: “On the cusp of his second presidency, all of us — from his most fanatical supporters to his most fervent critics — are living in the Age of Trump.” Trump himself has unsurprisingly had a turbulent relationship with TIME Magazine – while he praised TIME as a “very important” publication and said being named person of the year in 2016 was a “tremendous honor”. But he would sour on the outlet’s description of him being “president of the divided states of America.” He also blasted the magazine in 2011 for leaving him off a list of influential people, claiming it had “lost all credibility”. In 2013, upset over another snub, he stated that TIME would soon go out of business. He’s also criticized other Person of The Year choices, including pop superstar Taylor Swift who nabbed the honor last year.
The news of Trump’s becoming TIME’s Person of The Year was met with disbelief by many, including those on social media. Democratic presidential nominee and current Vice President Kamala Harris was on the shortlist for the honor, as well as Catherine, Princess of Wales and tech billionaire Elon Musk, who is a close advisor to Trump and poised to be head of the Department of Government Efficiency.