Trump Claims Americans Will ‘Have To Learn To Speak Chinese’ If Biden Wins US Election
Donald Trump continued his xenophobic warnings about China on Tuesday, claiming that if he loses the election, everyone in the US will have to learn to speak Chinese.
“Look, China will own the United States if this election is lost by Donald Trump,” he said in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. “If I don’t win the election, China will own the United States. You’re going to have to learn to speak Chinese, you want to know the truth.”
Demonising China has been central to Trump’s reelection campaign ever since the coronavirus pandemic took hold. The president and his allies have attempted to shift attention away from the White House’s actions by blaming China for the global pandemic.
In late January, Trump put restrictions on travellers from China. And he has repeatedly referred to the coronavirus as the “China virus” and “kung flu.” Yet for weeks, beginning in late January, Trump still praised Chinese officials for their response to the virus.
“China is working very hard,” he said on February 7. “They’re working really hard, and I think they are doing a very professional job.”
“President Xi loves the people of China, he loves his country, and he’s doing a very good job with a very, very tough situation,” Trump added on February 18.
National security adviser Robert O’Brien recently claimed that China is trying to hack into US election infrastructure in an effort to help Joe Biden win the presidency. The claim conveniently fits into another narrative that Trump has been pushing, which is that Biden is catering to Chinese interests.
One ad from the Trump campaign, for example, alleges: “The coronavirus infected millions. Crushed the world economy. One nation deserves the blame: China. They lied about it. Covered it up. Joe Biden coddles China.”
But according to The Wall Street Journal, officials familiar with the matter say that the “US doesn’t currently have intelligence showing that Beijing is...
