TikTok Hosted Party For MAGA Influencers Before Trump’s Inauguration

'There would be no celebration tonight if it weren’t for the commitment of our keyboard warriors,' Alex Bruesewitz, a Trump advisor said.

In case TikTok’s preemptive praise of President-elect Donald Trump on January 18 and 19 didn’t make it clear that the social media platform intended to kiss the ring, the party it hosted on Jan. 19 made its intentions crystal clear.

According to Rolling Stone, TikTok hosted a party at the Sax Restaurant and Lounge in Washington, D.C., hosted by conservative darlings C.J. Pearson and Raquel Debono. The pair played key roles in helping to elect President-elect Donald Trump back into office.

Pearson, a young Black conservative, was responsible for heading the RNC’s youth advisory council and used his massive social media platform to get young influencers to rally support for Trump.

Debono, meanwhile, used her position as the chief marketing officer of Date Right, a conservative dating platform, to host parties in hopes of uniting the “power couple” in conservative circles.

“There would be no celebration tonight if it weren’t for the commitment of our keyboard warriors,” said Trump advisor Alex Bruesewitz. “Each and every one of you played a role in the historic landslide victory, and the president is incredibly grateful…and we’re all going to celebrate soon at the White House.”

Adorned with TikTok earmuffs and MAGA hats, partygoers gathered to celebrate the incoming president, whose relationship with the popular video-sharing platform had become central to his re-election efforts. https://t.co/3Sevh6aCXq
— Ameyaw Debrah (@AmeyawDebrah) January 20, 2025

TikTok made the alt-right feel right at home, both at the party and on the platform. According to The New York Times, TikTok is willing to capitulate to Trump as long as it’s allowed to function in the United States.

As Anupam Chander, a professor of law and technology at Georgetown University, told the outlet that “TikTok is seeking the president’s favor in these ways because their very existence in this country depends on him.”

According to Fortune, Trump changed his tune on TikTok, which faced a U.S. ban, after his relationship with billionaire and supporter Jeff Yass, who owns a substantial portion of the platform, began to deepen.

Yass’s investment company, Susquehanna International Group, owns a 15% stake in ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company. Yass owns 7 percent, bringing his total company control to 22 percent. He has not indicated that he will increase his ownership share of TikTok to 50%, which Trump has floated as a potential solution to his self-created TikTok problem.

Although there were rumors that TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew would be at the party, he opted not to attend. But he will be at the Jan. 20 inauguration.

According to The Daily Beast, Chew has been trying to win Trump’s favor by appealing to his ego. For example, he posted a video statement to his personal TikTok account after the Supreme Court upheld the TikTok ban earlier in January.

“I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States. This is a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship,” Zi Chew said in part.