Sylvia Coulon Hampton (00:01)

Hey guys, welcome to this month's episode of your morning legal briefing. Let's jump right into the show. We have three attorneys originally from Chicago, two of which are now transplants in Alpharetta, Georgia. The show is sponsored by Hampton & Hampton LLP, a personal injury estate planning and nursing home negligence firm in Atlanta, Georgia. Our host’s of the show are Nikki Cain, a government attorney residing in Chicago, Illinois, and Halil Hampton, a personal injury and civil litigation attorney residing in Alpharetta, Georgia. And last but not least, you have myself, Sylvia Coulon Hampton, an estate planning attorney also residing in Alpharetta, Georgia. In today's episode, we're going to be discussing the inauguration highlights as well as the TikTok Ban. Now let's kick off the show.

Nikki, do you want to get started? What did you think about the inauguration? 

Niki Cain (01:14)

Sure. Welcome back and happy new year to you guys. Glad to be back. So I will say, I do think a lot of the festivities are still going on. Obviously, the balls get started tonight and some of the partying and merriment. But as far as the actual inauguration and the ceremony that was in the Capitol Rotunda, I mean, I must say it was surprisingly normal compared to what we've expected from President Trump in the past. You're on edge a little bit when he's speaking to the public, because you really just don't know what's going to come out of his mouth. Now, I am speaking specifically to the official ceremony that took place in the Capitol Rotunda. It was very dry. It seemed to be just very normal.

Sylvia Coulon Hampton (01:53)

Mhm.

Niki Cain (02:08)

very solemn, very professional. And quite honestly, that's the way I prefer my politics. I prefer to come back and say, you know what? It was a normal, dry, boring, political ceremony that we just happen to have every four years in this country. Oftentimes with President Trump, again, like I said, in addition to you never know what he's gonna say, looking at the results of the last presidential election.

You also sometimes never know what kind of behaviors may ensue when he's on the mic or when he's speaking to or motivating his crowd or his MAGA rally. But I think he did a good job just being presidential and speaking directly to the country. Obviously, he was reading or reciting written remarks that someone thoughtfully put together for him. And they were  more appropriate than what I would have expected. You know, there was some little dings in there, but as far as, you know, what I expected from President Trump, I mean, he probably outperformed my expectations at the inauguration itself.

Sylvia Coulon Hampton (03:16)

Yeah, I will say that I was impressed by the fashion choices. So I know that this might be a controversial opinion, but I thought Melania Trump, I thought that she looked really good. I liked the hat. I noticed that Ivanka, she had on more of kind of like the royal style hat, but I thought that she looked good. I thought that she looked confident. In addition to watching the inauguration, we also watched the church service. 

And so I thought that it was interesting just seeing the seating arrangements in the church and then the different tech bros. So I don't know if you saw that prior to the inauguration, but you had Zuckerberg sitting next to Tim Cook, who's the CEO of Apple. And then they were also sitting next to Jeff Bezos, which I thought was interesting. And then I think Joe Rogan was there as well as Elon Musk. So I think this is definitely going to be an interesting cabinet.

Niki Cain (03:43)

Mm.

Sylvia Coulon Hampton (04:12)

And it will be interesting to see what all becomes of the people that he's employing in different positions of power and leadership. How about you? go ahead, Nikki.

Niki Cain (04:19)

And to be, clear, I just wanted to say, I don't think any of the, as we now call them the tech bros, I don't think that anyone necessarily has a cabinet position, but of the things that sort of deviated from what you will see at a traditional inauguration, I personally did not care to see a row of billionaires, you know, a part of the ceremony, either at the church or in the Capitol Rotunda, if they're guests of the president, you know, at the festivities this evening, that's one thing, but I just don't think that that's a good or necessary message to send to the American people that, you know, these four or five billionaires sort of get pot-billing and preferred seating at an official, you know, presidential ceremony. I don't think that that was a good message to send to the people, but, you know.

Sylvia Coulon Hampton (05:13)

Yeah,you know, I really didn't mind it. And I know that that kind of segues into Biden's farewell speech as well, because I think that he kind of gave a warning to potential oligarchs taking over the United States. But even though they don't necessarily, if you want to call them the tech bros, have a cabinet position, just the fact that they do have, it seems like so much influence on this new Trump administration. You have Elon Musk, who's leading, I think it's called Doge. the Department of Government efficiencies, everything that's going on with AI as well as TikTok, they do seem to have a very broad influence on Trump and this administration, even if they're not cabinet members and they're not at the forefront. But how about you, Halil? What did you think of the inauguration and what were some of the highlights that you thought really stood out to you?

HG Hampton (06:06)

Yeah, I thought it was a good speech. thought it was pretty diplomatic, pretty non-controversial, his initial inaugural speech. He kind of came out, opened up a little bit with some shots fired at the previous administration. He mentioned some of the problems, the inflation, immigration, and kind of got into the hurricanes and the California fires.

And so he sort of opened up with mentioning some of that stuff, if I recall, and it's sort of how, you know, his administration is going to be on top of these things. And of course, you know, that's something that you would expect him to say. But other than that, he didn't really do a lot of finger pointing at the Biden administration, but he did open up a little bit with some shots fired. He mentioned his assassination.

assassination attempt that was mentioned during maybe the first five minutes. He, you know, I found it interesting. He said that the, that today, the 20th of January, 2025, he titled it liberation day. He said that he's going to be a president for all people. And, you know, I felt that that was something that.

You know, that was good to say because of course you have sort of half of the country that doesn't like Trump and then the other half that do is pretty, seems to be pretty split there. And so he did say that he gave a special acknowledgement to black and Hispanic communities. He said that he felt that they supported him in his election.

And so I thought that that was interesting that he did do a special acknowledgement, black and Hispanic communities. He called for national unity. And I'm just looking at some of the kind of the notes I jotted down here. He said, not forget our country, our constitution and our God. And so these are sort of, you know,

American unity messages. I think that was a theme of his speeches. He's going to try to not be divisive to be a president for not just the people that voted for him, but also the Democrats. And again, you would expect that, and we'll see, but I thought that was interesting. Another thing he mentioned that he's going to form

the external revenue service, I guess there'll be a department according to him or office, the external revenue service as opposed to the internal. Now he mentioned this before, I think maybe a week ago, he might've put a post on the ex or on his platform where he said, you know, the internal revenue service focuses on, you know, collecting monies and income from

taxpaying Americans, but he says he wants to form a external and go after You know these multinational companies that might be wanting to sell products and service services in to American consumers, but he wants to make sure they pay their fair share by way of tariffs I guess and of course there's some You know people that say that that's going to drive up inflation

I think it's, I sort of support that because I think we do need to see a focus on, you know, manufacturing and production happening here as opposed to in other countries. And so, because I think that's just going to be beneficial to all Americans. And so I like to see how that plays out this external revenue service.

And so, yeah, so that's something he mentioned that there is going to be an official U.S. policy. This is a little bit controversial, but this is kind of the way it has been historically. It's going to be an official U.S. policy of two genders. You know, they express that. I don't find that controversial, but some people will. And so he made a point of pointing that out.

And he said that he's going to reinstate unvaccinated military service members. So I guess, you know, you had, during the previous administration, you had military service members who didn't want to take the COVID vaccine and, and that, I guess they were, you know, terminated from their positions or expelled from the military. I'm not 100 % sure how that went, but.

But we heard that sort of thing happen. And so he said he's going to reinstate these unvaccinated service members and with back pay. Now, again, this is a speech and he's going to say certain things, whether there's going to be follow through on that. I, again, I support that. don't think anybody should have lost their job or employment because of that sort of choice.

if that, you know, that reinforced sort of a strong military, I guess. So he mentioned that, and then he said that, which one of the strong points that I liked that he said, you know, something to the effect of we, you know, we win wars that we never get into, you know, and so he said he's going to be a peacemaker and a unifier. So essentially, and that's, you know, message sort of from the Art of War book where it says,

You know, the best way to win a war is not to get into one. And so he, you know, put that out there. We win the wars that we don't get into. And that's sort of looking at the Ukraine and the Israel situation. And, and, you know, and I guess we can sort of touch on that where the week before today, you know, where we're hearing this peace deal is going to get done between Israel and, and Palestine.

And so we see that it looks like that's coming together. And again, a lot of this is wait and see. So I thought it was a good speech. I thought it was sort of diplomatic, the goal of unity. And I thought he got his message across. But now we'll see what happens.

Now the work has to get done, we'll see how that plays out.

Niki Cain (13:13)

And I do just have to push back on one point. I feel like it would be sort of unconscionable for me to do so. Actually, President Trump's comments on the trans community, I find that to be the opposite of unifying the country, especially with the violence that many trans women face. They have a lower life expectancy because of the violence and the systematic trauma that the trans community face. We know that trans youth...

have a higher rate of homelessness because they're consistently rejected from their families and their communities. And to have a president that wants to get up and say that there's only two official genders as if that's really necessary or recognizing the trans identity doesn't really hurt anyone. So I think that sort of flies in the face of his message of unity. And that's just one of the many ways that he sort of uses

hatred toward marginalized groups to sort of rile up his base because officially recognizing two genders really does not accomplish anything as far as American prosperity. It only goes to further marginalize an already vulnerable group. So, as an ally to the trans community, I just wanted to say that that's not a unique message at all.

HG Hampton (14:28)

Yeah, I guess I would say that. that's important. Obviously you don't want to, you know, take away rights from anybody, the trans community. I think what, when he's going with the same, two genders, and again, that's been the history of, of, you know, the country for forever is that this man and woman, this sort of more than two gender conversation is sort of a new conversation. mean, there's always been trans people.

But, you know, I remember growing up, people would go to the, to the shows and see, you know, women would go to the shows and see performers. But I think now you're seeing where people, parents, and you're seeing people, you know, wanting to make sure that their, their children aren't sharing bathrooms and locker rooms with, biological men if they have daughters or women competing in sports. I mean, we hear the stories, know, women competing in sports, but you have biological males competing in those same sports and coming in and completely dominating. And I think that's unfair. You know, if I had a daughter, wouldn't want her. definitely, nobody would want, you know, sharing a locker room with a biological male. That's something. I think that's pretty widespread. that people sort of agree to that, you don't want to, know.

Niki Cain (16:08)

How serious of a problem is trans students participating in sports when we have more serious issues going on in our schools like gun violence and drug use? mean, trans people make up less than 1 % of the population. And I didn't mean to cut you off, but it's just so surprising that, you know, just trying to sort of ostracize that community, he makes that one of the highlights of his speech, given everything that's going on in America. I mean, who really knows a trans student athlete who's been affected because, you know, a young woman because a trans student out competed them in sports. You're more likely to face gun violence in your school. So I just think it's the wrong thing to sort of put in his unify message.

HG Hampton (16:55)

Yeah, I mean, I agree. It's not like a huge issue that people every day face, but I think, you know, if you're, if you're a parent and, and I don't, you know, I don't know, maybe it's not as, it's never been something I've had to face where I've had to deal with some issue of, uh, you know, sharing a bathroom with, uh, with a trans person or something like that, that made me uncomfortable or, you know, compete in any kind of sport. So I do kind of agree with you, Nikki, that it's really not something that affects the majority of people, probably as much as the news or you hear about on the news as if this is some everyday issue that people are facing. But, you know, I think historically we've always recognized men, you know, there's two genders in men and women.

Niki Cain (17:43)

Mm-hmm. And I think...

But it actually, know, the military actually in the past couple of decades, our United States military, one of our biggest institutions has actually been a leader in promoting trans rights in that pre, you know, before the Trump administration, transitioning servicemen and women were able to get gender affirming care paid for with their military insurance. And that was something that our military did maybe almost 20 years ago. So. The idea that we're sort of entrenched in two genders, really, when even our armed forces was progressive enough to recognize trans rights. And part of his platform and the Project 2025 platform is to actually roll back the progress that the American military in all branches has made in supporting trans service members.

Sylvia Coulon Hampton (18:26)

Yeah, I agree with you, Nikki. I think I was a little bit surprised when he started naming off the litany of things that he wanted to focus on for this administration that he did throw in there the comments towards the trans people as far as there only being two genders, a male and a female. When I initially heard that, I wasn't exactly for sure if that was just clickbait because again, a statement like that is going to get a lot of views. 

because there were a whole list, as you said, maybe more important things that are plaguing the United States that he talked about. I think one of the first things that he wanted to do was declare a national emergency on the southern border, reinstate his remain and Mexico policy. He also touched base on the wars in the Middle East. So I do agree with you when he threw in the transgender comment, it did seem like a little bit of a stray.

And I'm not for sure if he was doing that just to kind of rally off his base. And it'll be interesting to see. As you said that the military has been very progressive with the trans rights. If he does start rolling those backs, because I do believe I'm not exactly for sure his exact wording, but I do think he said that he was gonna start trying to shift some of the focus from the military from different diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. And I'm not for sure if he's gonna start grouping.

trans people in that as well too, as far as when he talks about various distractions in the military. And so we're gonna hope that we do continue to unite all of our brothers and sisters, even those in the trans community. Switching topics, I know there was a lot of other issues that were on the forefront. What did you guys think about Michelle's absence?

Niki Cain (20:34)

You know.

Sylvia Coulon Hampton (20:34)

I know

that that's kind of a...

Niki Cain (20:38)

Yeah, you know, I thought it was interesting and, you know, I know some of the gossip is just sort of like, you know, the what do you call it? The high palace gossip. Yeah, is there something, you know, personal going on with the Obamas? You know, obviously, I don't know them. I don't care to believe that's true. I honestly just think that she is taking sort of a moral and somewhat of a political stand because she just strongly disagrees.

Sylvia Coulon Hampton (20:46)

The tea is hot.

Niki Cain (21:07)

with this individual having the opportunity to serve as president for another four years and so she decided not to participate.

Sylvia Coulon Hampton (21:17)

What are your thoughts, Halil? Do you think it's as simple as that, that she was just taking a political stance? Or do you think there might be a little trouble in paradise? Or is it really just none of our business?

HG Hampton (21:28)

I mean, yeah, we could only guess, right? We have no clue. I've heard everything from, you know, trouble in paradise between, you know, she and Barack to, she just doesn't like Trump to she's having health problems. I mean, we don't know, right? It's it, but these are all speculation. Nobody, only she and Barack knows. I would say if I was going to guess, but again, it's just a guess. We don't know. I'd say she just.

I guess, I guess that she's just not fond of Trump and she just didn't want to kind of go through the pageantry or just the, you know, that whole process of standing out there and clapping and if she's, if she wasn't going to be into it. I would have felt that way and said that, well, that's it. But on the second hand, she wasn't in attendance at the Jimmy Carter funeral when we watched that. And I think that she would have been there even though

Trump is there even though she didn't like him. I think she would have attended that and the fact that she didn't attend that Thus kind of lend to okay. Maybe there's something else going on here. But again, we don't know and yeah, it's probably none of our business I think if it was because of She just didn't like Trump. I would say she should have just kind of sucked it up and went She is a very popular former first lady

extremely popular, probably the most popular, first lady in a long time. And so, I would say she should have, sucked it up and, and went because it wasn't even that long, right? We were, Sylvia and I were talking about it and we said, yeah, she could have kind of just showed up and, kind of went to the, to the, you know, the formal inauguration where he does his speech and.

And then just got in the car and left, you know, if she didn't have to go to the lunches and all that stuff. So if it was just because she doesn't, she's not a Trump fan, I would say she should have sucked it up and went, you know, and then what was interesting sort of, you know, kind of you're looking at this and, and, you're trying to figure out what's going on because then you have Barack Obama and Trump chumming it up at the Jimmy Carter funeral.

which was interesting because again, Barack's a very savvy guy. I consider him probably the most powerful Democrat. here he is knowing the cameras are on and chumming it up with Trump. Now to me, that's normal, right? There's nothing wrong with it. But to a lot of people that are very anti-Trump and love Barack, they're going to feel betrayed, I guess.

and so I just felt that was interesting for Brock to do that, knowing that cameras are going to be on and, and, and knowing that this is going to sort of be a talk, talking point. So, but again, we don't, it could have just been simply there sitting next to each other. And, and so it was a casual conversation.

Niki Cain (24:41)

Obama is very charming and he's a politician, so I would not have expected him to sit there at President Carter's funeral and give President Trump a cold shoulder. I would not have expected that either, so.

HG Hampton (24:56)

Yeah. Yeah, that's true. He's a, he's, and he seems like a social person. Everybody else gave him the cold shoulder though, like Kamala gave the cold shoulder Biden, you know, everybody else, but Brock gave the cold shoulder. And, and so, you know, and, so I guess my last point, think I, you know, and I mentioned this to Sylvia, if I was Kamala, I don't know if you would feel away if she would feel away that, that Michelle is sort of.

Niki Cain (25:01)

Mm-hmm.

HG Hampton (25:24)

you know, upstaging her or putting her on blast with her crowd because you have Kamala who's an AKA and you know, you know, the sort of the black woman voter would sort of say, well, you know, Michelle didn't go. So, you know, you shouldn't have went. Not saying anybody's going to think that, but, but,

Niki Cain (25:47)

No, I don't think it's

a color structure. The most commentary I've seen on that, and really, and I like it and I hate to keep, know, but you did it too, but honestly, I mean, the most inappropriate, you know, no show at an inauguration happened in 2021 when Donald Trump didn't show up as the outgoing president to Joseph Biden's inauguration. unless we're going to leave that conversation with that, again, this is another example. you know,

HG Hampton (26:05)

Okay.

Niki Cain (26:15)

A black woman does something and you know, she'll catch all the heat in the world when really, I mean, she really doesn't owe us anything anyway, so.

HG Hampton (26:23)

Yeah. Well, I think

he caught heat for that. mean, the whole term it was, Trump is not acknowledging that he lost, you know, that was just constant talk about that.

Niki Cain (26:27)

He

didn't and then today in his informal speech after he was inaugurated, of course, he went and gave an impromptu speech in front of the cameras that I think went on maybe close to 90 minutes. He started to rant a little bit and he denied that he lost the election in 2020. So as soon as he got the opportunity to go back off script, he went right back to his sort of divisive messaging.

Even when it's unnecessary, he won. have a full house. And I assure you for the next four years, we're going to hear constant whining about the fact that he actually won the 2020 election. And that just speaks to his maturity level. I said it here first. This is not the last. We're going to hear about that 2020 election, even when the country has more pressing issues. I wouldn't be surprised if he goes on another arena tour to cry about the 2020 election.

That's what we have to look forward to, guys.

HG Hampton (27:27)

Yeah. And I'll just say, and I think you're probably right. He'll probably won't let that go. I, you know, I don't, he lost if it's like a matter of fact, I guess. But, but there were some serious anomalies in that election that I get why he's questioning it. I'll tell you that much. mean, anytime you have that many mailing voters, which every, anybody in election, electoral politics would tell you.

mail-in voting is susceptible to fraud and vote stealing and things like that. It's just known. And so, and during that election, you had an unprecedented amount of mail-in voting. so that alone, if I was running and I saw how the numbers shot up and Biden gets the most votes ever and all that, I would question it too. Now,

Niki Cain (28:07)

Mm-hmm.

HG Hampton (28:26)

At some point, I think you do have to let it go and move on, but people have been prosecuted based on that. So I mean, Giuliani and I'm not a big Giuliani fan or anything, but he got $150 million judgment against them because he accused somebody of, of, you know, assisting in, in, in stealing the election. And so.

Niki Cain (28:45)

A deaf and deaf person too, yeah.

HG Hampton (28:53)

That's probably why they're not letting it go because you had all of these lawsuits that have followed, that have been brought against his team because they have questioned it. I think it was legitimate elections to get questioned all the time. And so it wasn't to me, it wasn't like this unique thing. how dare he questioned the election. I mean, we're from Chicago elections to get questioned all the time. And so, but yeah, I think at some point it is.

Niki Cain (29:08)

Yeah.

HG Hampton (29:22)

I would agree that's behind us. Move on and let's look forward.

Niki Cain (29:25)

Yeah.

This election, 2024 has been certified and he's been inaugurated, but we also had all the abnormalities in the down ballot voting in the 2024 election where you had Democrats cleaning up in a lot of state and local elections and somehow the top of the ticket went Republican. So that was another anomaly that we haven't seen in recent history. But again, the Democrats have respectively moved on.

Sylvia Coulon Hampton (29:57)

Yeah, I think I would agree with both of you. Number one, I definitely think that it's time for Trump to move on from the 2020 election. I do agree that he's probably going to continue to talk about this for the next decade. And I also agree with you, Halil, if it were me, I know it's none of our business, but I do think that Michelle should have showed up to the inauguration, at least for the first part.

And the only reason why I say this is I think that Michelle is just such a classy and a phenomenal woman. I don't want her legacy to be tarnished. I don't think that it necessarily is because she's going to continue her speaking engagements, all of the different other business opportunities and adventures that she does. But you don't want every conversation when her name comes up for the next six months for them to continue to bring up, well, she didn't, you know, attend the inauguration because

she's so much more than just this one day. So that would be my thoughts on that. Another thing that I thought that was interesting about the inauguration that I was a little bit disappointed in is I felt like there was a lack of diversity. The only person of color speaker, and I could be wrong, I believe was the Reverend, I think his name is Lorenzo, I'm gonna butcher his last name, is it Sue Well. He delivered the...

benediction at the inauguration, but I think he was the only person of color that I saw and maybe I'm sure Kamala must have said a couple of words, but the fact that it was Martin Luther King Day and the fact that I felt the program really lacked diversity even in the singers, et cetera, I was a little bit disappointed in that. I felt like there should have been more recognition, especially just because

It's not only a cordon to Trump if he wants to call it liberation day, but more importantly, it's Martin Luther King day. And and, I feel like there should have been more diversity in the program. What are your thoughts on that? Hello.

HG Hampton (31:56)

Yeah, I think that I wouldn't be against more black folks or Hispanic folks in his administration or otherwise, but you know, so that's not unimportant. But again, I'm looking back and you know, I'm not so much interested in the skin color of a person more, so I'm interested in their policy.

And I'll be honest, the Barack Obama, I voted for Barack twice Obama and campaigned and I was disappointed and I didn't see the results that I thought we would see. Specifically to black communities, I did want to see specifics, right? Specifics in Chicago, we're going to do this, this and this to help out, you know.

communities in the south side, west side of Chicago. And it didn't happen. And so I don't, you know, we've got a, you know, I'm very much local politics, pay attention to that a little closer to national. And so Chicago, we have a black mayor and, and, you know, black, a lot of black alderman, Hispanic alderman. And, and, you know, they're not, they're not

you know, scoring touchdowns, I guess, like I would want to see. I think the mayor, you know, has a 14 % approval rate. I, yes, I would like to see Trump having more black folks in his administration. I'm not going to be against that, but what's primarily important to me is the policies of the people, because what they'll do is say.

Hey, we'll just give them, you know, a black person or Hispanic person. And they, you know, who cares about the policies, just give them that and that'll be enough. And so that's sort of what I've seen as being the modus operandi for the last, you know, 10 years or so, maybe even longer. So now I'm like policy, policy, policy. Let's see what the policy is. That's what's first and foremost.

and everything else we could flush it out.

Sylvia Coulon Hampton (34:26)

How about you, Nikki? Did you notice any lack of diversity or did it not even? Was that something that you didn't even notice during the show?

Niki Cain (34:35)

I certainly noticed the lack of diversity. I've been sort of noticing the lack of diversity since President Trump started announcing his cabinet selection and the lack of diversity and just in general, the people he's been surrounding himself with throughout the campaign and the election cycle. But for me, and I totally understand the importance of policy at the bottom line, we want people

in powerful positions who are going to get things done that benefit the American people. However, I am of the train of thought that your unique identity is just as important, is just as important of a qualification to make the effect of policy. I understand what Haleel says that with the DEI initiatives, at least it appears that, you know, for the past couple of decades, the nation was interested in

diversifying leadership positions and people might say that had mixed results. However, before there were any DEI initiatives, it's not like, you know, America as a whole, when it was primarily controlled by white men, it's not like they're gonna come up with the best policies for the American people as well. And so when you look at Trump's cabinet, that lack of diversity ethnically, that lack of diversity financially, I just don't see how, you know,

If your advisement team is 75%, 80%, 90 % hyper wealthy Caucasian people, I just don't imagine what policies are they going to come up with in earnest that are really going to benefit the average person. So I think it is important to diversify who's advising you because just the simple fact of someone's identity and their background, they're going to be coming with a different way of thinking, a different perspective. I would imagine the opinions of

Musk and Bezos and all the rest of them when it really comes down to things that are going to affect everyday American people, their opinions are not going to differ. That's a homogenous crowd. And so I think that having that lack of diversity actually makes things dangerous. you know, America is now entering the F.O. stage of this experiment. So we're all going to find out. I don't think that, you know, that group of white wealthy white men standing behind Trump, they're not going to come up with policies.

that are going to be beneficial to the majority of us, but we will find out.

Sylvia Coulon Hampton (37:04)

Yeah, I I like the way that you stated that, Nikki, that was very interesting. How about you, Halil? Any closing thoughts before we switch to the next topic on the TikTok ban? I think we're all really gonna have to wait and see what happens with Trump and the diversity and even the nation, because I think it's interesting. think, and again, don't quote me on this, but.

Allegedly, even Vivek, who was a person of color, has been kicked out of the inner circle and he's supposed to be running for governor. he was, you know, does a bright face and a sea of a non diverse crowd. So it'll be interesting to see if they bring anyone in to replace Vivek and what becomes of it or maybe DI really is dead and it doesn't matter anymore. So we'll just have to wait and see.

Say Nikki F.A. and find out.

Niki Cain (38:01)

We

to find out. We're about to find out. know, they have a House, we have a Republican in the White House, we have a Republican majority in the House, the Senate, and you know, we've seen how the Supreme Court has been moving. So in the hands of all these capable Republican men, let's see how we make it. Godspeed, everybody.

HG Hampton (38:03)

Yeah.

Sylvia Coulon Hampton (38:06)

See ya.

HG Hampton (38:24)

Yeah,

not to just to jump in real quick. I think that if Trump like an overall, if he, you know, focuses on deregulation, right? I think there's over-regulation. And so that will help small businesses that'll help the middle class. And that'll be the whole middle class, black, white, Asian, Hispanic.

I think if that, because the over-regulation, the red tape, it really hurts small business owners. And you got a lot of black, brown, yellow, white, small business owners that run into all kinds of problems with over-regulation. And so that public safety also, and this is also a state municipal issue, but a focus on public safety, getting crime.

because again, that also harms small business. It's almost impossible to have a flourishing small business environment where you have crime. You you've seen that in Chicago. It's hard because now you got to worry about security. You're having break-ins and things like that. so public safety deregulation, I think I really support a focus on peace and diplomacy.

internationally with these wars, that will just because it's just the right thing to do. Who wants to see all of that, you know, all of that destruction going on internationally in other countries that and it's we were spending billions upon billions. I mean, the numbers that where the United States is spending and funding those wars is astronomical.

So I have to think that if that, if Trump says we're going to stop that and then take that money and invest it here, I'm all for that. And that was sort of his, his program and the first administration on how I viewed it. And so those things, is that's what I want to see. and I think if, if the focus is on that, then I think everybody will benefit. And so I think that's sort of.

part of what his speech was going to. And again, it's, see, you know, it's one thing to talk about it. And we'll see how it plays out over the next four years.

Sylvia Coulon Hampton (40:59)

All right. Well, let's go ahead and switch to the next topic. The inauguration highlights have definitely been interesting. But for those that don't know, TikTok went away and now it's back to everyone's joy. for those that don't know, I want to start out just giving a little bit of history of TikTok. So it started out in March of 2012. And I think that

their original name of TikTok, was Byte Dance, and then it changed to Musically. And it was known for people that wanted to post short lip sync videos. And then fast forward to 2019, Lil Nas X, I don't know if you guys remember that, but he had released his Old Town Road on TikTok, and that became a national success.

From there, in October 2019, US politicians began raising concerns about TikTok's influence on the youth, as well as security concerns that the Chinese government might have too much access to our data. From there, in July 2020, it was banned in India because they were have similar problems with TikTok. And then in August of 2021, Trump issued an executive order.

banning American companies from engaging in financial transactions with TikTok, which didn't necessarily go anywhere, which is interesting because then fast forward again to March of 2024, both Kamala Harris as well as President Trump utilized TikTok to their success to help them launch successful campaigns. And then in January 2025, the Supreme Court recently upheld a federal law

banning TikTok from youth and that's why it went dark. So, Halil, I'll kind of let you start off. What are your thoughts on the TikTok ban? It's reemergence and what do you think is going to happen from here? I think Trump says he's trying to work out a deal whereby it would be 50 % owned by investors.

And I think even Black Rock's name and don't quote me on this may have even been thrown out as a potential investor. And I've also heard Metta as well as Elon Musk. So what are your thoughts on what may happen next?

HG Hampton (43:27)

Yeah. so there was like, saw a meme going around where the guys on the balcony kind of looking down at people in a smoke way. And it's like me looking at everybody freaking out about Tik TOK. Cause I never downloaded the app. that's I never downloaded Tik TOK. I never used it, but I know like Sylvia, she's a big Tik TOK person. and so, and it, it, and it exploded in popularity.

I've never used it, but so I would, with TikTok, I would always wonder, well, what's the difference? This is like Instagram. I would just think it's, it's just another Instagram. When I would talk to Sylvia about it, she'd say, no, it's, it's different. It's, it's sort of easier to use or, or, you know, it's just a different, different format, I guess. Um, but, and so the Supreme court, uh, decided, or they agreed with, with the lower court that found that.

TikTok, I guess, was a national security threat because it's a Chinese-owned company and that this Chinese-owned company was, there's a lot of data collection in any social media app. And so that, I guess, you know, caused a national security concern that you have China, who's an American sort of competitor, that having access to all of this.

data on American users of TikTok. And so the Supreme court agreed, that, that, was enough reason to shut it down. I personally, mean, I, and again, you know, I'm not a tech person and I didn't look at the, I didn't read the decision or go back and look at the lower courts reasoning and see specifics. You know, I'm a big freedom of speech person. So.

I was sort of like, you know, okay, monitor the half of monitor to make sure that that data is not being explored it of some, kind of process to, to prevent that from happening. But I felt like shutting down an entire app was, was sort of, I hadn't heard something like that. That seemed like sort of some strong precedent to, to shut down the entire app based on.

a, uh, you know, that it's owned by a foreign comp, a foreign country or, you know, a company, uh, Chinese company. Um, but so, you know, so it shut down, then Trump and Sylvia showed me the message she got when they shut it down and it said, essentially, okay, we're shut down, but hopefully, uh, Trump, when he gets in office,

reinstates it and everything will be okay. And apparently that's what happened. And so, so I guess it was at the end of the day, sort of a nothing burger, because now it's back. was shut down for 72 hours or something or 48 hours. Now it's back. And they'll try to structure it. Like Sylvia said, Trump mentioned there'll be some joint venture where the U S government possibly would own 50%. And then the Chinese company.

would own the other 50%. Hey, that seems like a fair deal. If the other option is just take this or complete shutdown. I think the owners of TikTok will, will take that deal. And so, yeah, you know, we'll see how that plays out. I think, you know, one reason that people were hopeful and, and confident that Trump was going to kind of do something to stop it from getting shut down because from what I understand.

that a lot of his support with the youth was coming through TikTok. know, that TikTok really helped him with the younger crowd. And so he felt some kind of debt of gratitude. so, you know, he did, I guess he pulled some strings. You know, we'll see how that deal, what kind of deal they make in terms of ownership structure. But

But yeah, overall, I do think it's sort of bad precedent for the courts to get involved to shut down companies, unless it's just completely obvious that this is a national security threat. I think it could be a slippery slope situation, but yeah, we're still, you know, TikTok's back. So we'll see how it plays out.

Sylvia Coulon Hampton (48:12)

How about you, Nikki? Fair or foul or what do you think of the TikTok ban and its reemergence?

Niki Cain (48:19)

So I think the whole episode is just strange. None of it really makes any sense. And so just sort of wearing my tinfoil hat, that leads me to believe that honestly, something probably, you know, something bizarre, maybe even nefarious just went on behind the scenes and we possibly will never know. At some point between 2021 and now, there was sort of like a bipartisan agreement that, you know,

something inappropriate was going on with TikTok. And this is at a time when, you know, we can barely get a bipartisan agreement on anything. Now, whatever it was that they were looking at or considering or whatever event there was that TikTok was involved in, I feel like maybe that hasn't been disclosed. However, there's also been some sort of behind the scenes resolution. And I think that's, you know, here we are.

I genuinely believe there was some sort of national security issue. Some information was obtained possibly by the, I mean, this sounds so far out, but something happened that involved TikTok where, you know, a lot of the political leaders said, okay, no, it has to go. And something as trivial as a social media app, something happened. And maybe, you know, for national security reasons, we'll never find out.

But when you talk about memes, will say as a TikTok user myself, something definitely feels funny scrolling on the app since I've opened it. And it went dark, 12 hours, Haleel. And the funniest TikTok I saw to reference that, someone basically had a three screen TikTok of, do y'all remember the Fresh Prince? And they had old Aunt Viv, then you come back the next season, there's a new Aunt Viv, and everything's supposed to act.

Sylvia Coulon Hampton (49:52)

Now, the

HG Hampton (49:55)

Okay.

Sylvia Coulon Hampton (50:10)

Right.

HG Hampton (50:11)

yeah.

Niki Cain (50:11)

Right,

you know, so now TikTok is now light skinned on this and I don't know how to put my finger on it, but.

Sylvia Coulon Hampton (50:16)

Right.

HG Hampton (50:16)

Wow.

So it's

not the same product, it's a difference.

Niki Cain (50:23)

It sounds very woo woo, but the energy is off. I mean, I'm going to keep scrolling, but you know.

Sylvia Coulon Hampton (50:29)

Yeah, no, I would 100 % agree. The jury

is still out for me because it's been so soon and I haven't been on TikTok today. But I do know because I am a connoisseur of TikTok and when it went down, I was extremely, I'm just gonna throw it out there, I was extremely distraught and part of that is because sometimes I get insomnia.

And so I'll scroll through TikTok during the night and I was literally on TikTok watching somebody's live and then it just went dark. And I did, I was right, ran downstairs and I'm like, TikTok's gone. So no, it was, was,

Niki Cain (51:03)

I think

I text you or I text you.

Sylvia Coulon Hampton (51:08)

because I felt like I had ghost thumb, because I just kept going like this, almost like TikTok's gone. But I do agree with you, Nikki, that the algorithm seems off. So some of the different topics and the people that I followed before TikTok went down, I feel like the algorithm's not the same, but I will give it a couple days, maybe a week, and see if the content that I was viewing before.

Niki Cain (51:19)

Mm-hmm.

Sylvia Coulon Hampton (51:34)

comes back, I will say that if it does turn out that they do sell the company to someone, I don't think that it should be owned by Metta. I think that that's too much power that would be in Zuckerberg's hands that I don't even know from an antitrust perspective and, you know, a monopoly how that would even work with BlackRock, not to get into conspiracy theories, but I think they're saying that that was the company behind the Maui fires. And then, you know,

If you believe in conspiracy theories and maybe they started these fires in California. So it'll definitely be interesting. I'm not saying that I believe in those types of things, but those are the types of subjects that would be talked on the previous TikTok before the algorithms went off. So it'll be interesting to see if what new TikTok 2.0 was like. So yeah.

HG Hampton (52:30)

Yeah. I, I mean, I agree if, if like Mark Zuckerberg or Facebook, like bought TikTok, I think that would be, you know, that'd be like too much of a monopoly. So, hopefully that doesn't happen because I was thinking like, who would benefit if TikTok is shut down? Well, Elon Musk would, it's, I would think he'd be happy. And it looks like we lost Nikki.

Sylvia Coulon Hampton (52:58)

Keep going.

HG Hampton (52:59)

So yeah, I'll just say, guess Elon Musk would be happy and Mark Zuckerberg would be happy because it's because TikTok is bigger than both of them, what I understand. And so if that goes away, I mean, how your competitors would have to love that. But so, you know, I guess we'll see, but it's back. Right. So I guess the risk of going away is gone. It's not going to go away. It just will have new ownership.

Sylvia Coulon Hampton (53:28)

Yeah, and we'll just have to wait and see because I think that was another interesting point is that again, this is all allegedly, but I think that they were saying that prior to the Supreme Court upholding the ruling that a lot of members of Congress had gone out and bought metastock. And so you also don't want a case of insider trading. So it'll definitely be interesting to see what becomes of TikTok, potential new ownership and its future.

HG Hampton (53:57)

Yeah, and then just in closing on that to to your point the other like the conspiracy theory is that they shut it down because people were waking up people were like gaining gaining all of this information Sharing information the drones flat earth you know the reptilians under the earth All of this, you know the fires who started the fires and so

Sylvia Coulon Hampton (54:22)

Right.

Niki Cain (54:22)

you

HG Hampton (54:27)

You know, it's like, a minute, hold on. You know, the normies are gaining too much of this information. That's usually for the guys with the tin foil hat in their mother's basement. But now you're seeing just regular people, right? And I've even experienced it at friends of mine who are not even into questioning things coming up and saying, hey, did you hear about

this or that. said, wow, I didn't know you were into that sort of thing. It's all I heard about it on TikTok. And so, you know, who knows what's going on out here, right?

Sylvia Coulon Hampton (55:02)

Yeah, it'll definitely be interesting to see what becomes of the new TikTok algorithm and if we get our beloved TikTok back true to its original form. All right.

Niki Cain (55:17)

Sorry guys, I got disconnected and I had to quickly troubleshoot so hopefully I was only gone for about 45 seconds.

Sylvia Coulon Hampton (55:25)

Yeah, you're back. Did you have any closing thoughts on the TikTok ban,

HG Hampton (55:26)

Yeah, you made it back.

Niki Cain (55:31)

No, no, I think I pretty much got the thesis of Helio's last statement. And yeah, there's always sort of that element too. Were the young people sort of using it too much to mobilize? I don't know how taking it away and giving it back sort of resolves that issue. And you also have YouTube live and Instagram live. So.

There's, know, and those are just the popular ones, but there's also other smaller apps that are really uniting people around the world. So I don't know like how authentic that argument is anymore. Like, this tool is too effective to spread information because we have so many ways to spread information, you know, these days. But I did sort of hear those conversations being thrown out there. But I just think it's moot right now with so many different ways to connect via apps. It's just...

You know, like I said, again, I'm going to stick with something particular happened with TikTok and maybe we'll just never find out.

Sylvia Coulon Hampton (56:29)

Yeah, and it was interesting that when it went down and even before it went down that people started rushing over to Red Note, which is I believe that's his name, which is another, you and you. Right.

HG Hampton (56:29)

next

Niki Cain (56:40)

It's mandarin. It's all in mandarin. then people

like, the Chinese people are like, come over here, we'll teach you mandarin. Now that sounded kind of, I'm like, no, I'll pass on that one. I don't know. I don't speak with a lick of mandarin. So I'm not downloading the mandarin app.

Sylvia Coulon Hampton (56:56)

Yeah.

Yeah. And you would see, I don't know if you guys saw the memes where the people were looking at the terms and condition and it was all in Mandarin. And they said, no, I just signed up for the Chinese army and didn't know it. So it was right. Yeah, you're just you're just pressing buttons. So no, it'll definitely be be interesting and maybe

Niki Cain (57:09)

Right. That was like the joke because everyone was going to red note.

HG Hampton (57:11)

wow. I didn't see that one.

Sylvia Coulon Hampton (57:25)

That was part of the reason why it came back so quick because that would just be creating a bigger problem. But we'll just have to go ahead and see. All right, you guys, well, that pretty much sums up today's episode. Thanks to everyone for tuning in to this month's episode of your morning legal briefing. We've covered a lot of topics today from the inauguration highlights to the TikTok ban. Make sure to tune in to next month's episode of our podcast and make sure to like, subscribe.

Niki Cain (57:31)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Thank

Sylvia Coulon Hampton (57:54)

and listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. Also, you can visit our website, Hampton Hampton LLP. If you're in need of a personal injury, estate planning, or nursing home negligence attorney, our team is always here to help. Thanks guys.

Niki Cain (57:55)

Thank you.

HG Hampton (58:12)

Thanks for listening.