I wasn't a fan of Seth Moulton's before dating back to his failed coup attempt of Speaker Pelosi (in hindsight - thank God that effort failed). But his latest "bipartisan" - i.e., a bunch of Republicans plus Moulton - resolution gives aid and comfort to Trump and puts Asian-Americans in danger.
As reported in The Hill, Moulton is the sole Democrat on a "bipartisan" resolution condemning China for its handling of the Coronavirus and emphasizing that the virus originated in China.
Obviously China's handling of the virus, suppressing information, rejecting international cooperation, promoting falsehoods, was terrible (and Trump's response has echoed it all too much). The resolution isn't inaccurate in calling out those failings. The problem is context - and that's why Moulton is so wrong in sponsoring it.
In short, jumping on this kind of resolution now is political malpractice for any Democrat. Let's count the ways: It helps Trump create a narrative of China as a scapegoat for his own mishandling of the crisis. It distracts from the real issues we need to address in the U.S. by focusing on China's actions instead. It further strains relations with China at a time when we need to improve global communication and cooperation to address the worldwide pandemic.
But worst of all, it feeds into racist tropes around the virus that put Asian-Americans at risk of discrimination and outright violence. Trump's "Chinese Virus" tweet played to his bigoted base of deplorables, and we've seen over the past three years how that kind of incitement leads to increased harassment and violence toward the minority groups targeted by Trump. Racist reaction to the virus already is a growing threat to Asian-Americans, and Seth Moulton should be ashamed of lending his name to this kind of jingoistic political pandering.