COLUMBUS — Donald Trump is always looking for a scapegoat, but his current attempts to shift the blame for his coronavirus failures onto China are complicated by the fact that “Trump himself is tens of millions of dollars in debt to China.”
“Donald Trump spent the critical first weeks of the coronavirus outbreak downplaying the threat and echoing the propaganda being pushed by the Chinese government that everything was under control,” said Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper. “Trump refused to criticize the Chinese leaders, instead offering praise for the authoritarian regime no fewer than 15 times. It’s reasonable to wonder if the fact that Trump has a loan with the state-owned Bank of China is influencing his decisions. It’s a massive conflict of interest, and it’s one with deadly implications, as our country’s coronavirus death toll continues to climb.”
Trump has been trying to scapegoat China ever since he kicked off his presidential campaign. In November 2015, Trump told a rally audience in Columbus, “We’re going to take back our jobs from China.”
