Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin have figured out the best way to help the American worker during this trying time: a strongly worded letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey demanding the social media platform ban the Chinese government.
In unrelated news, this comes at the same time that the White House has reportedly released marching orders to Republican Party stooges to begin publicly attacking and blaming China for the COVID-19 pandemic—you know, the one that the Republican administration argued wasn’t a big deal (and maybe even a hoax) and is now dragging its heels on?
Business Insider reports that Sen. Sasse and Rep. Gallagher’s letter to Dorsey pointed to the Chinese government’s use of the Twitter platform to misinform the public about the history of the virus’ diagnoses and treatment in China. They claim this is an effort to rewrite history and “disseminate propaganda.”
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I’ll just drop this clip of Donald Trump saying, "I have seen that where people actually liked, but I didn't feel different. I've always known this is a real—this is a pandemic. I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic.” I’ll also drop this story from a little over two weeks before said video, where Trump calls the coronavirus “the new hoax” being pushed by the Democratic Party and deep state.
China’s handling of COVID-19 was clearly problematic. The country, very well known for its authoritarian control over media and public information, is reinventing history to mitigate their terrible handling of the public health crisis. This is a fact. Also a fact: Our current government, under Donald Trump et al., is attempting to reinvent history to mitigate its terrible handling of the public health crisis.
Back when the Senate finally passed some legislation for coronavirus relief, Sen. Sasse joined Republican Sens. Jim Inhofe, Ron Johnson, James Lankford, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Tim Scott, and Marsha Blackburn in voting against the package. And Ben Sasse is historically craven, gaslighting American women everywhere during his vote to install beer lover Brett Kavanaugh into the highest court in the land.
Luckily for the GOP, they’ve figured out the best way to help Americans under economic distress is to follow Trump and the GOP leadership as it blows the racist dog whistle of xenophobia and blames others for its own impotency.