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Republican politicians push anti-China rhetoric to try to win votes in Nov. These politicians know nothing about China. They back xenophobic, anti-immigrant policies. And they’re covering for Trump’s failures on the virus — more than 50,000 Americans dead. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/24/gop-memo-anti-china-coronavirus-207244
2. Bipartisan foreign policy crowd in DC is worried. There had been bipartisan work on some tougher US policies toward China. The effort is valued by China strategists in Trump administration. New push by GOP to attack Biden & Dems on China will destroy that — and help Xi & CCP.
3. As Trump flails, GOP campaign strategists are desperate for short-term gain & willing to sacrifice long-term foreign policy planning & bipartisan efforts on China. Do polls show whether China is even a pivotal issue in swing states? cc: @natecohn90 @NateSilver538 @SamWangPhD
4. The gaping flaw in GOP’s so-called campaign strategy: Trump admires Xi & praises him constantly. He wants to do business w/ China. His trade war hurt US businesses & did nothing on the big econ issues w/ China. On March 27, he tweeted “Much respect!” to China’s leaders.
5. Many Asian-American voters & activists already see the GOP’s injection of bigotry, xenophobia & race-baiting into these policy debates. They note Trump’s embrace of “Chinese virus.” And they know about the racist attacks in the toxic environment: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/us/chinese-coronavirus-racist-attacks.amp.html
6. Meanwhile, the family of GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell does business w/ China. His wife, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, has close family members who run a US shipping company w/ deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party elite. @nytimes story: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/02/us/politics/elaine-chao-china.html
7. This morning, the so-called @ReaganBattalion suggested on Twitter that I’m an “agent for the Chinese regime” because I wrote this thread. In doing so, they proved my point. Get ready for this level of “discourse” in the months ahead.
