You know if Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is willing to lay down her arms in the middle of an impeachment fracas to join forces with Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton, the subject of their ire has united the entire nation, regardless of political affiliation.
For the NBA to follow in the footsteps of Hollywood and Silicon Valley in bending the knee to China’s dictatorship is pretty close to every lefty nightmare scenario of Scrooge McDuck-style executives prioritizing profit over the literal physical safety and human rights of millions of people. Meanwhile, that a communist government continues to oppress roughly one-fifth of the human race is enough for those on the more libertarian end of conservatism to object. And China’s cajoling American companies to comply with their machinations as they continue to screw our trade infuriates the more protectionist wing of the Right.
Throw in the NBA’s disgraceful treatment of journalists and protesters on American soil, and we have a comic book villain galvanizing our entire populace.
Wow, this is chilling. The NBA minder shuts down CNN’s question here and refuses to let the players answer it. Not only are they acting as China’s censors for their employees, they’re now bringing China’s suppression of the critical press to our shores. https://t.co/2cYISBpIwU
— (((Yair Rosenberg))) (@Yair_Rosenberg) October 10, 2019
This is happening in Washington DC, by the way. Not China. https://t.co/rFmFKHe7Qi
— Byron Tau (@ByronTau) October 10, 2019
President Trump, who declared China his ultimate foe on his first day in the Oval Office, ought to be overjoyed, and yet:
President Trump criticizes Steve Kerr and Gregg Popovich — both vocal critics of Trump — when asked about China putting pressure on the NBA: “They talk badly about the United States, but when it talks about China, they don’t want to say anything bad” https://t.co/rR2dKOelYD pic.twitter.com/am9hMQcGG3
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) October 9, 2019
As someone known for calling his adversaries on the Hill and in the media “crazy,” “dumbo,” “slimeball,” “deranged,” “fat,” “wacky,” “truly weird,” “failing,” “nut job,” and “psycho” — just to name a few examples — that which Trump doesn’t say is even more telling than what he does.
Reportedly, Trump’s silence stems from a deal made with Chinese president-for-life Xi Jinping. In exchange for Trump’s remaining mum on the Hong Kong protests at the center of the NBA’s debacle, the dictator has said he won’t blow up trade talks as they supposedly reach a deal.
Trump’s promise on this represents a moral failure. But as a practical political question, it just exposes that Trump could have done much better in getting the nation to support his trade war. He could have unified the country around punishing a nation that is currently torturing and enslaving millions of Muslims in concentration camps as we speak.
Americans have never seemed more willing to unite in boycotting a widely-beloved institution in their disgust with the NBA’s obeisance toward China. The traction ought to have began when Google became complicit in censoring Chinese citizens with Project Dragonfly, but now with the wokeness wiped off of the veneer of the NBA, perhaps every industry working with China will finally come under fire.
China is growing more emboldened each day, as huge companies like @Apple succumb to Beijing’s intimidation. Successful blackmail will beget more blackmail. How will @Apple react when protesters who had once used the app to avoid police violence are beaten, tear-gassed or worse? https://t.co/lV2cLT9ucL
— Samantha Power (@SamanthaJPower) October 10, 2019
Wow, nothing to see here except @ESPN implicitly acknowledging China’s claims to the South China Sea by using the “Nine-Dash Line” on a graphic today #StandWithHongKong: pic.twitter.com/KCDIV77h5H
— John Cooper (@thejcoop) October 10, 2019
It gets much worse.
Blizzard is:
— banning the Hong Kong-based player for 12 months
— fining him his prize money
— firing both the casters involved in the incident#China pic.twitter.com/RfJlfOJ4e6— Ankit Panda (@nktpnd) October 8, 2019
Trump never should have started his trade war by targeting our democratic allies when we needed them the most to put pressure on China. He stepped on his own toes with his bizarre zero-sum mercantilism, an economic theory and approach as failed as socialism and one that was debunked much earlier by Adam Smith.
We’ve proven that Americans share a righteous indignation towards the atrocities of the Chinese government. As much as Trump brags about his populism, he completely botched the sale of his signature initiative. It’s unlikely that he can correct course at this point, but hopefully we the people can still enact our own punishment stateside towards those companies that bow to the dictatorship.
