Another video of Biden poking fun at his age got 70,000 views. A fourth post Monday evening highlighted Trump’s recent comments that he would encourage Russia to go after “delinquent” NATO countries.
Democratic political consultants praised Biden’s foray onto a platform with a large audience of voters he’s polling poorly among.
Mark Jablonowski, a president and technologist at the digital firm DSPolitical, said Biden’s team seemed to inject the right amount of humor and cheeky digs in its posts.
“The last thing any campaign should do is use TikTok for posting sterile, boring content,” he said, adding that it’s a dire time for the Biden campaign to reach young voters on issues such as student loan forgiveness, abortion, and climate change.
Republicans were focused on China-security concerns surrounding the president joining TikTok, as opposed to the account’s content.
“Why is Biden on TikTok? Easy. Because he’s desperate,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) wrote on X. “What message does it send? He doesn’t give a rip about Americans’ security or China’s spying.”
But Biden campaign officials, who insisted they were taking security precautions, crowed about their TikTok premiere in a news release Monday.
It is “proof positive of both our commitment and success in finding new, innovative ways to reach voters in an evolving, fragmented, and increasingly personalized media environment,” said Deputy Campaign Manager Rob Flaherty.