President Trump said Thursday of Hong Kong, “they’ve had riots for a long period of time,” where locals are protesting efforts by communist China to crack down and violate Hongkongers’ human rights. “Somebody said that at some point they’re going to want to stop that,” Trump added. “But that’s between Hong Kong and that’s between China, because Hong Kong is a part of China.”

This phrasing, a bizarre regurgitation of mainland Chinese propaganda about recent events in Hong Kong, is very disappointing to hear out of Trump’s mouth. We hope this is Trump speaking off the cuff and not him selling out Hong Kong.