Why Have Conservatives Started Being So Critical of China? Wonders Oblivious Washington Post Columnist
Screenshot via Fox News
The Washington Post‘s Philip Bump set out to answer a question he — and only he — lacked the answer to on Thursday.
After watching Wednesday night’s GOP primary debate, Bump found himself perplexed by the candidates’ discussion of the Chinese Communist Party and the threat it poses to American interests.
Via the columnist:
During the GOP presidential primary debate on Wednesday, DeSantis didn’t use the word “woke” once. (He also didn’t say “Fauci.”) But he did use another pejorative term: “CCP,” referring to the Chinese Communist Party. At another point, he referred to his opposition to “communist China.” DeSantis has mentioned “CCP” or Chinese communism six times since the beginning of August — and numerous times before that.
“Criticizing China’s communism is by no means new in American politics, of course. But this phrasing, the ‘CCP’ iteration of that criticism, seems to be in vogue at the moment. How did that happen?” he wondered.
Could it be the CCP’s ongoing prosecution of a brutal genocide against its Uyghur Muslim minority?
Could it be the CCP’s cover-up of its role in propagating a pandemic that killed millions across the globe?
Could it be the CCP’s support for Russia in its bloody war on Ukraine?
Could it be the CCP’s exportation of its brand of techno-authoritarianism?
Could it be the CCP’s efforts to undermine American leadership on the world stage?
Could it be the CCP’s propping up of a barbaric, aspiring nuclear power in North Korea?
Could it be the CCP’s threats to invade a sovereign, democratic ally in Taiwan?
No, says Bump. It’s Fox News’ fault:
Analysis of closed-captioning collected by the Internet Archive shows that use of “Chinese Communist Party” or “CCP” has been far more common on Fox News and Fox Business than on CNN and MSNBC. But there’s a clear point at which those references became more common: the start of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020.
This is interesting, if not surprising. The pandemic spurred new attention to the reliability of the Chinese government as questions swirled about how and where the coronavirus first emerged. It was obvious that China was suppressing information about the virus and its effects on its population. There was reason to focus on China and on its leaders, members of the Communist Party.
But, he continues, “the pejorative outlasted that concern about the pandemic” because “there was another utility to it in both 2020 and after, of course: It once again pits America against communism.”
“The term became popular on the right. DeSantis, an experienced purveyor of right-wing jargon, picked it up. So Fauci and ‘wokeism’ get a moment out of the spotlight,” concludes Bump.
The entire exercise reflects the tendency of so many in the media to pathologize conservatism by unconsciously taking the expressed concerns of conservatives to be contrived political plays.
But in truth, Bump’s odd reaction to the invocation of the CCP on Wednesday tells us more about his own frightening myopia with conservative media than about it does about Fox News or Ron DeSantis.
The rabbit hole of reflexive partisanship he’s dug himself is so deep, he hasn’t poked his head up for long enough to notice the manifest evil lurking across the Pacific.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
