China and its initial cover-up of the coronavirus are threatening to become a key 2020 political issue with several lawmakers lining up to push boycotts and other punishments in Congress.
And now, it has debuted on the campaign trail in Texas in a pointed ad that accuses the communist government of being a “criminal enterprise.”
Kathaleen Wall, in a May 26 runoff for the seat in Sugarland, has begun airing an ad that accuses China of inflicting the virus on the world and calling for a broad punishment of the country.
“China knew about this virus, and they lied about it. Now, innocent Americans are dying. China must be held accountable,” she said in a statement releasing the ad.
In it, she promises to back President Trump’s recent attacks on China.
“China poisoned our people. President Trump has the courage to call it what it is,” the ad says as it shows what looks like missiles of “Chinese virus” into the United States.
It adds: “Wall will cut off trade, aid, & support to China. Fight to replace ‘Made in China’ with ‘Made in America.’ And stand with President Trump to face down the Chinese threat. China is a criminal enterprise masquerading as a sovereign nation. It’s time to fight back.”
47% of voters believe that China is primarily to blame for the coronavirus pandemic, 27% of voters think it’s at least somewhat likely that the Chinese government intentionally created and released the coronavirus — @ScottWRasmussen pic.twitter.com/gfSvSntYqk
— Paul Bedard (@SecretsBedard) April 2, 2020
In her initial race, she trailed leading GOP candidate Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls for the Houston-area seat.
In the past week, several Washington lawmakers have also called for China to be punished.
Florida Sen. Rick Scott, for example, on Wednesday told Larry O’Connor in the Washington Examiner‘s Examining Politics podcast, “First off, if you ever buy anything made in China, you should say to yourself, ‘You are supporting a government that intentionally misled us, and American citizens died.’ Why would we ever do that?”
He added, “We should try to never buy one product ever built in China.”
