1. The Trump campaign is going to lean in heavily to linking Biden to China ("Beijing Biden") because it's usefully unifies Trumpian passions: xenophobia, protectionism, elite corruption (Hunter Biden's business ties), and deflection of blame for Trump's blunders.
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3. What Biden has going for him is that Trump himself is on shaky grounds on China, riven by exploitable contradictions (the protectionism undermined by currying favor with Xi). Beyond that, there's the simple fact Trump has botched the pandemic response in horrifying ways.
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4. The recent Biden ad has a few good things: it hits on the contradictions between Trump's rhetoric and his behavior. The problem is that it leaves open Biden's own weakness (his trade history) and echoes Trump's xenophobia (in a way that divides Biden's coalition).
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5. The simple fact is the pandemic is making clear huge problems in existing globalization, a system Biden has spent decades supporting. He needs to figure out how to address that & also eschew xenophobia. More thoughts here: https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/china-biden-trump-xenophobia/ …
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End of conversation
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That's a great point. I never thought of that. I thought the whole Pelosi-Chinatown shaming was a crude and xenophobic way of playing to his base, but perhaps there was more to it.
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I just can't imagine there is a large audience for political messaging about China in the best of times, let alone in the middle of an economy-destroying pandemic.
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