Trump, GOP go all-in on anti-China strategy
Republicans are amplifying President Trump's anti-China rhetoric on Capitol Hill and in campaign ads across the country as the White House seeks to blame Beijing for a pandemic that has devastated the U.S. economy and killed almost 100,000 Americans.
It's a message that's playing well with Trump's base - nearly a third of voters say they view China as "the enemy" - and is reminiscent of the hard-line, anti-immigrant positions that helped catapult him to the White House in 2016.
But it's unclear if ratcheting up the pressure on China will prove to be a winning campaign strategy with the broader electorate amid sagging poll numbers and daily news reports detailing Trump's slow and shaky response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I think the anti-China message has currency not just with the GOP base, but also with some swing and independent voters as well. That's why it's appealing to the Trump campaign - and you even see that the Biden campaign has dipped their toe in the water on this too," said Lanhee Chen, who led policy for Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign and advised Sen. Marco Rubio's (R-Fla.) presidential campaign in 2016.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/elections-2020/trump-gop-go-all-in-on-anti-china-strategy/ar-BB14v8nz?li=BBnb7Kz
What China did or didn't do does not excuse the ineptitude of the Trump administration in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
