President Trump’s campaign released a new online ad attacking Vice President Joe Biden for criticizing Trump’s early turn to “xenophobia.” Yet the ad inadvertently reveals the very “xenophobia” the Trump campaign condemns. As numerous observers have pointed out, the ad takes Biden’s remarks out of context and portrays the former Governor of Washington, Gary Locke, as an official of the Chinese Communist Party.
The following is a statement from Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice:
Leave it to Trump and his gang to fear monger and point fingers at those he wants to ‘other.’ As hate crimes against Asian Americans across the country spiked in recent weeks, the FBI issued a warning to local law enforcement that such crimes will escalate ‘based on the assumption that a portion of the US public will associate COVID-19 with China and Asian American populations.’ Now, President Trump’s campaign is spending money on ads to help make sure his acolytes make the connection with Asian Americans.
Deliberate or incompetent? It doesn’t matter. This ad should be taken down. It is ugly, dangerous and cynical to do anything less. We are in the midst of a pandemic where the survival of the American people depends on all of us coming together to fight the virus. It’s no surprise, then, that they are conflating a prominent Asian American — a former US Ambassador, Governor and Secretary of Commerce — with an official of the Chinese Communist Party while casting China as the villain responsible for the pandemic.
