Last Updated on May 5, 2020
Brendan Carr, a Commissioner for the Federal Communications Commission, slammed Politico for publishing what he described as uncritical “communist propaganda.”
Politico published an article on Monday discussing the online Chinese reaction to President Donald Trump’s coronavirus response entitled, “Not the World’s Number One: Chinese Social Media Piles On the U.S.”
David Wertime, Politico’s Chinese Editor, argued that Chinese citizens are all seemingly united in praising the country, and attacking America:
On Weibo, the country’s equivalent of Twitter, Trump’s declaration sounded like an astonishing statement of defeat by China’s major geopolitical rival… To Chinese authorities, the audience at home is the one that really matters, and among that vast cohort, the verdict is unsparing: China has outperformed, while America has disastrously faltered. It’s a sentiment shared by even educated, internationalized Chinese observers — the very group once inclined to look to America as an exemplar.
Not only was the article very uncritical, so was the tweet that accompanied it. “Trump is getting roasted on Chinese Twitter for his virus response, highlighting a broad verdict there: America disastrously faltered while China outperformed,” Politico wrote.
Trump is getting roasted on Chinese Twitter for his virus response, highlighting a broad verdict there: America disastrously faltered while China outperformed https://t.co/GTjxnvCVuM
— POLITICO (@politico) May 4, 2020
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Carr, a commissioner with the FCC, spotted the article, and decided to call Politico out for posting what amounted to “communist propaganda.” He reminded them that the CCP “disappears” people who are critical of them on Weibo, and that there are many paid trolls known as “Wu Mao” operating on the site.
Hi @Politico, don’t mean to disrupt your Communist propaganda with facts, but
✅ There’s no Chinese Twitter, it’s banned
✅ The regime disappears people that DON’T spread its disinformation on Weibo
✅ Look up “Wumao” b4 quoting paid trolls
✅ Here’s a 🧵 w/ actual facts ⤵️ https://t.co/h75I0ySVQF
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) May 4, 2020
“Wu Mao” translates as “50 Cent Army/Party,” which is what ordinary Chinese citizens have labelled the army of pro-government propagandists who post platitudes praising the CCP and shoot down anyone on their online platforms who dares to criticise the party line.
Unsurprisingly, the Politico article, made little mention of these facts. When they did mention the propaganda efforts, they argued that “nothing in the lived experiences” of many young Chinese citizens counteracts what the government is spouting.
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Carr proceeded to link to a Twitter thread detailing the disastrous response from the Chinese government, destroying the regimes two main arguments, which are that it locked down Wuhan in time to prevent the spread, and that it gave the world information early enough along in the pandemic to act:
Communist China says America cannot hold it financially responsible for the massive losses caused by COVID-19 for two main reasons:
It locked down Wuhan; and it provided information and time in Jan & Feb for the world to act.
Neither argument withstands even casual scrutiny. pic.twitter.com/rzcHa1gvQm
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) May 4, 2020
4. When 7 million people leave a city of 11 million AFTER officials discover the virus and BEFORE travel restrictions kick in, that’s not how you stop a global pandemic – that’s how you start one.
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) May 4, 2020
6. At this point, when the regime finally implements and touts its travel restriction, it’s too late.
The virus had already reached countries around the globe. It had already been “seeded by travelers from Wuhan.” Global spread is now an inescapable reality. pic.twitter.com/8FDvag34OX
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) May 4, 2020
9. In January and February, the Communist regime used the WHO’s facade of legitimacy to persuade the world that China’s mitigation measures were working and a global pandemic was not imminent.
The regime knew this was not the case. pic.twitter.com/YVoes30EqQ
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) May 4, 2020
11. Communist China’s foreign ministry consistently presented false info about Covid’s scope & scale.
It claimed on Jan 31, for instance, that China had already hit a peak level of cases. But even using the regime’s extreme underreporting, its cases grew over 40-fold after that. pic.twitter.com/ESULvgvcoF
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) May 4, 2020
So not only did the regime let 7 million people leave Wuhan for cities around the world when they knew about COVID-19 for weeks, but they also utilised the World Health Organisation to hide their under-reporting of cases, and silenced any whistleblowers who spoke out against them, Carr noted.
