In 2020, Trump and his MAGA cult turn their racism on China – and the World Heath Organization

Politico recently reported that our appointed, not elected senator Martha McSally calls on WHO director to resign:

Sen. Martha McSally is calling on the World Health Organization director general to step down over what she deems his assistance in covering up China’s underreporting of the coronavirus, part of an escalating series of GOP criticisms of the organization.

The Arizona Republican said on Fox Business on Thursday that Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus should resign over the organization’s handling of the virus, which originated in China.

“I’ve never trusted a communist. And their cover-up of this virus that originated with them has caused unnecessary deaths around America and around the world,” said McSally, who is up for reelection this fall. “The WHO needs to stop covering for them. I think Dr. Tedros needs to step down. We need to take some action to address this issue. It’s just irresponsible, it’s unconscionable what they have done here while we have people dying across the globe.”

McSally also said U.S. debts to China “should be forgiven, as a minimum.”

First, as to her last point, this violates the U.S. Constitution, but Republicans just don’t care about constitutional requirements.  Matthew Chapman reports at Salon that Senator Lindsey “Stonewall” Graham is also promoting this unconstitutional plan. Did Lindsey Graham just violate the 14th Amendment during a Fox News appearance?

On Fox News Thursday in discussion with Sean Hannity, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) made an extraordinary statement: That he wants the United States to “cancel” some of the national debt held by the Chinese government as punishment for allowing the coronavirus to spread beyond its borders.

[I] want to start canceling some debt that we owe to China, because they should be paying us, not us paying China,” said Graham. “So I think you’re going to see a bipartisan pushback against China to punish them so severely to deter them in the future.”

Putting aside the thorny legal question of whether a foreign country can be legally held at fault for the spread of a deadly disease, there is a big problem with what Graham is proposing: the 14th Amendment.

The amendment, one of the three “Reconstruction Amendments” passed in the wake of the Civil War, contained a clause at the end that was designed to prevent Southern politicians — who historically wielded outsized power in Congress — from canceling the U.S. war debt, which could have shielded the white landowners who led the war effort from having to pay taxes: “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.”

At a bare minimum, this amendment would appear to make it unconstitutional to “cancel” Treasury bonds held by the Chinese government or businesses. But it might go even further than that — some have interpreted the phrase “shall not be questioned” more literally, to mean that public officials are bound not to say anything that would make creditors “question” the validity of the public debt. If that is the case, then Graham would have violated the Constitution simply by saying he wants debt held by China to be canceled.

As did our appointed Senator Martha McSally. Sigh. What a tool.

Second, this attack on the World Health Organization and China is a “thing” among right-wing media and China “hawks,” and is now part of a xenophobic campaign strategy by the Trump campaign reminiscent of a dark period in American history when Congress enacted the Johnson–Reed Act, i.e., the Immigration Act of 1924, which included the Asian Exclusion Act and National Origins Act. The 1924 act supplanted earlier immigration acts to effectively ban all immigration from Asia.

For those of you who know your American history, the 1920’s was also the period of time when the power of the Ku Klux Klan was at its zenith. The Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s:

In the 1920s, the Klan moved in many states to dominate local and state politics. The Klan devised a strategy called the “decade,” in which every member of the Klan was responsible for recruiting ten people to vote for Klan candidates in elections. In 1924 the Klan succeeded in engineering the elections of officials from coast to coast, including the mayors of Portland, Maine, and Portland, Oregon. In some states, such as Colorado and Indiana, they placed enough Klansmen in positions of power to effectively control the state government. Known as the “Invisible Empire,” the KKK’s presence was felt across the country.

Donald Trump and his white nationalist/Christian nationalist MAGA personality cult can only dream about the success that the KKK enjoyed in the 1920s. This is their dream.

Trump lashed out on Tuesday at the World Health Organization, choosing a new political enemy to attack and threatening to withhold funding from a premier health institution even as a deadly virus ravages nations around the globe. Trump Attacks W.H.O. Over Criticisms of U.S. Approach to Coronavirus:

“We’re going to put a hold on money spent to the W.H.O. We’re going to put a very powerful hold on it and we’re going to see,” Mr. Trump said during the daily coronavirus briefing at the White House, accusing the organization of having not been aggressive enough in confronting the virus. “They called it wrong. They call it wrong. They really, they missed the call.”

In effect, Mr. Trump sought to denounce the W.H.O. for the very missteps and failures that have been leveled at him and his administration. Public health experts have said the president’s public denials of the virus’s dangers slowed the American response, which included delayed testing and a failure to stockpile protective gear.

Otherwise known as “scapegoating,” per Trump’s penchant for deflection and shifting blame for his own ineptitude.

In fact, the W.H.O. sounded the alarm in the earliest days of the crisis, declaring a “public health emergency of international concern” a day before the United States secretary of health and human services announced the country’s own public health emergency and weeks before Mr. Trump declared a national emergency.

After saying flatly that the United States had decided to “put a hold” on the organization’s money, the president later denied that he had made those remarks and appeared to back down.

“I’m not saying that I’m going to do it. But we’re going to look at it,” he said. When a reporter noted that he had indeed said the funding would end, Mr. Trump insisted, wrongly: “No, I didn’t. I said we’re going to look at it.”

Politico adds, Trump aides look to punish WHO:

Aides to President Donald Trump are debating some potentially far-reaching moves to punish the World Health Organization in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, including cutting off U.S. funding and trying to create an alternative institution.

Officials have begun drafting a letter that — if the decision is made — will announce a suspension of U.S. funding to the WHO and a related body, the Pan American Health Organization, according to a person familiar with the issue. The draft document also tells officials at the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development and other institutions to try to route the money to existing alternative organizations.

Trump on Friday teased a forthcoming announcement about the WHO next week, hinting that his administration would place a hold on its funding to the global health body. But he did not go into details Friday, instead launching into a litany of complaints about how the WHO is allegedly too close to Beijing despite the U.S. being its top donor.

“As you know, we give them approximately $500 million a year,” he said, “and we’re going to be talking about that subject next week. We’ll have a lot to say about it. We’ll hold it.”

Trump’s grievance politics of retribution against anyone who criticizes his magnificence as “Dear Leader” extends to members of Congress. China Hawks in Congress See an Opportunity in Coronavirus:

China hawks in Congress like Senator Marco Rubio, who have long pressed for a more confrontational approach to Beijing, are intensifying their efforts to enact tougher policies targeting the country. They see the coronavirus crisis as a critical opportunity to draw broader support for their push to punish and challenge China with new sanctions, mandates for domestic manufacturing and controls on American exports.

“There comes a point where, as a nation, we have to ask ourselves what are the critical goods that you must retain the ability to make even if it’s not the most efficient outcome,” Mr. Rubio said. “I think that’s now right before us.”

[T]hose who have long railed against China’s human rights abuses and warned of its dominance over the global supply chain are taking advantage of anger about the Chinese government’s handling of the virus to make the case that it is time to take stronger action.

In the weeks since the pandemic took hold in the United States, several lawmakers have unveiled legislation that would aim to unwind the two nations’ economies and blame Beijing for the spread of the virus.

* * *

Senator “Tehran Tom” Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, who said the Chinese government must be held accountable for its role in the spread of the virus, has unveiled legislation that would allow Congress to impose sanctions on government officials who perform “acts intended to deliberately conceal or distort information about a public health emergency of international concern” such as the virus. It is modeled after the Global Magnitsky Act, a law designed to punish individuals around the world who are accused of human rights violations or corruption.

Mr. Cotton, a hawk and one of the first lawmakers to warn of the dire effect the virus could have on the United States, is among the most vocal proponents of adopting a more adversarial relationship with China. He has also called for Congress to withhold funding from the World Health Organization, which has come under fire for what critics call its repeated deference to Beijing.

“The World Health Organization is in the pocket of China,” he said on Thursday. “We’re going to have to establish our own organization and invite members of the civilized world to join us.”

And then there is Trump’s Christian nationalist base. Trump’s evangelical supporters want China to pay a price for coronavirus:

President Donald Trump’s evangelical boosters want China to pay a price for its handling of the coronavirus — preferably before voters deliver their verdict on Trump at ballot boxes this fall.

[T]he president’s top religious allies joined a choir of voices urging him to punish China for its furtive mismanagement of Covid-19. Interviews with top evangelical leaders, many of whom have been in frequent contact with the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force, revealed a growing consensus that something must be done to hold China accountable and that Trump should take the lead in defining a suitable punishment.

Some said Trump’s lukewarm response to China’s leaders, who have been widely accused of minimizing their country’s Covid-19 outbreak earlier this year, is both a missed opportunity and an emerging political liability.

Others said Trump’s No. 1 priority — besides containing the virus inside the United States — should be forcing the Chinese regime to take responsibility for the global pandemic.

“From the time he rode down the escalator at Trump Tower, President Trump made clear there would be a new sheriff in town when it comes to dealing with China,” said Ralph Reed, co-founder of the Faith & Freedom Coalition.

“China lied about the genesis of the virus and under-reported their own cases. These are actions that cannot be ignored and for which China must be held responsible, and I think taking action to do that only serves to deepen the president’s commitment,” Reed added.

All of this xenophobic racism towards China has resulted in this: New Trump Ad Suggests a Campaign Strategy Amid Crisis: Xenophobia:

President Trump has kicked off his general election advertising campaign with a xenophobic attack ad against Joseph R. Biden Jr., the presumptive Democratic nominee, the opening shot in a messaging war that is expected to be exceptionally ugly.

In a minute-long digital ad released late Thursday that relies heavily on imagery of China and people of Asian descent, the Trump campaign signaled the lines of attack it will use in its attempts to rally the president’s base and define Mr. Biden. The ad reprises accusations Mr. Trump has made that the former vice president’s family profited from his relationships with Chinese officials and presents selectively edited scenes and statements attempting to portray him as doddering and weak.

The new ad also shows that while the country has changed drastically in recent weeks amid a national health crisis, the president has not. He continues to lead the nation and run his campaign the way he always has: by belittling his adversaries and exploiting racial discord.

“They’re just going to run a white grievance campaign,” said Stuart Stevens, who worked on the presidential campaigns of the Republicans Mitt Romney and George W. Bush. “It’s not complicated. He’s losing with everybody but white men over 50.”

The new ad also falsely suggests Washington state’s former Asian American governor is a Chinese official:

A new attack ad by President Trump’s campaign includes an image of Gary Locke, a former governor of Washington state, that appears to falsely suggest he is a Chinese official.

“During America’s crisis, Biden protected China’s feelings,” asserts the ad, which prompted swift condemnation by Democrats for its inclusion of Locke.

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post writes, Trump’s new ad attacking Biden on China is a complete and utter mess:

The big headline from a new Trump campaign ad is that it features an image suggesting that Gary Locke, former Washington governor and U.S. ambassador to China, is a member of the Chinese Communist Party.

[B]ut that’s hardly the only way in which the ad obscures and misleads. It is a veritable smorgasbord of deception and disinformation. It attacks Biden for saying things about China that are extremely similar to what Trump himself has said. It also alters Biden’s comments about travel bans and other things to make it sound like he was saying something he did not say.

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post adds, Trump’s China-bashing ad is more ridiculous than you thought:

[T]here’s something more fundamentally absurd about this ad that is eluding notice. It’s that a look at the timeline shows that, early on, Trump was praising China’s handling of coronavirus at precisely the same time that Biden was insisting we must show skepticism toward China’s handling of it.

Throughout the early weeks of coronavirus, Trump repeatedly praised China’s handling of coronavirus. Importantly, this praise was central to advancing the argument that Trump had totally beaten down coronavirus with merciless force and efficiency: Trump kept insisting he was successfully collaborating with China to defeat it.

Yet, at around that same time, Biden was warning against taking China’s assurances about coronavirus at face value.

The contrast is clear. On Feb. 25, Trump said that China was “working very, very hard” to contain coronavirus, adding that “they’re getting it more and more under control,” which led Trump to conclude that for the United States, coronavirus was a “problem that’s going to go away.”

By contrast, on Feb. 26, Biden directly rebutted this line, saying: “I would not be taking China’s word for it. I would insist that China allow our scientists in to make a hard determination of how it started, where it’s from, how far along it is.”

This pattern persisted throughout the early weeks, with Trump repeatedly praising China’s handling of it and confidently claiming China had it under wraps.

What’s important here is that Trump’s repeated insistence that China had coronavirus under control was absolutely central to Trump’s own downplaying of coronavirus, and to his suggestion that he had it under control — and that it wasn’t a problem here.

Dana Milbank at the Washington Post explains, Trump blew it — not the WHO, Fauci or the Jews.

Even the resident GOP apologist at the Arizona Republic, Robert Robb, says Don’t make China the scapegoat for America’s COVID-19 response.

Yet this is precisely what Donald Trump and his MAGA sycophants including our appointed Senator Martha McSally are doing. She is all-in on Trump’s xenophobic racist campaign to deflect and shift blame for his own massive failure of leadership.