‘we Can't Wait Forever’: Gop Frustrated But Unwilling To Act On Trump’s Tiktok Extension

President Donald Trump’s latest move to keep TikTok alive is yet again frustrating congressional Republicans, many of whom object to China’s continued involvement in the popular app but just want to be done with the whole drama.

“Not my favorite thing,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), along-time proponent of the ban, deadpanned, when asked about the president’s plan to issue another extension.

He spoke a day before the White House confirmed Trump signed a 90-day suspension of enforcement of the law requiring TikTok to divest from ByteDance, its China-based parent company, throwing another lifeline to the short-form video app.

By Friday, some House lawmakers registered a note of resigned irritation. The extension — Trump’s third since the law went into effect on Jan. 19 — is a unilateral decision not envisioned in the bipartisan law passed by Congress and upheld last year by the Supreme Court.

Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Ill.), a member of the House Intelligence and China committees, told POLITICO. “The national security concerns and vulnerabilities are still there, and they have not gone away. I would argue they've almost become more enhanced in many ways."

But Trump’s extension of the TikTok law largely boxed out Republicans in both chambers who have shown little inclination — beyond stern words — to prevent him from making these postponements almost routine. Many GOP lawmakers saw themselves as granting the president space to cut a promised deal while the White House deals with urgent priorities, like trade negotiations and the Israel-Iran conflict.

“In light of everything going on, I think he did the right thing,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a China hawk who voted for the ban, told POLITICO of Trump. “I have concerns about all kinds of things — that [the extension] is on the list — but it's not at the top of the list.”

Though Trump has promised his TikTok negotiations areclosely tied to trade talks with China, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent testified last week to a Senate panel that TikTok’s sale wasnot currently a part of the negotiations with China, raising a further potential obstacle to Trump inking a deal in the near future.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a close ally of the president and longtime national-security hawk said earlier in the week: “The sooner we get that issue solved, the better,” without offering any ideas for further enforcement.

“I just want finality,” Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told POLITICO. “I want some certainty and just know that the Congress isn't being played when we make a decision [that the app] be sold.”

Another member of the House China Committee, Rep. Zach Nunn (R-Iowa), told POLITICO, “No more extensions. It’s time to follow through.”

Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), also a member of the China panel, noted in a post on X Thursday the law only allows one extension of the compliance deadline, adding, “I was proud to support the ban of TikTok and believe the law should be implemented as written.”

With their comments, the lawmakers echoed House China Chair John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), who in early June called for the U.S. to “let [TikTok] go dark” to bring China to the table to negotiate. He reiterated that stance on Friday.

“Delays only embolden the Chinese Communist Party,” Moolenaar said in a statement to POLITICO. “I urge the administration to enforce the law as written and protect the American people from this growing national security threat."

Still, observers say Republicans are not exercising their leverage to demand the White House enforce the law they helped write, for example by withholding funding or congressional oversight hearings.

"I keep reading that Republicans are 'frustrated' and 'impatient' about their TikTok law being ignored, but they should stop complaining to reporters and take it up with Trump,” said Adam Kovacevich, founder and CEO of the pro-tech Chamber of Progress.

Among the Republicans being undercut by the president is his own secretary of state. Marco Rubio — who as senator was one of the loudest critics of TikTok’s ties to China, and a huge backer of the app’s ban — has been conspicuously silent as Trump has repeatedly granted more time to strike a deal for its sale.

“You have to decide what's more important, our national security and the threat that it poses to our national security,” Rubio told POLITICO in March 2023, as Congress was considering a ban. “You have to weigh that against what you might think the electoral consequences of it are. For me, it's an easy balancing act. I mean, there is no balance. I'm always going to be for our national security.”

A spokesperson for Rubio at the State Department did not respond to a request for comment.

Democrats — even those who support keeping TikTok online — say Trump’s approach is the wrong one.

“These endless extensions are not only illegal, but they also put TikTok’s fate in the hands of risk-averse corporate shareholders,” Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) told POLITICO in a statement. “This is deeply unfair to TikTok’s creators and users. I’m prepared to work towards a solution, but Trump isn’t coming to the table.”