What the hell? Trump says Chinese Americans are angry at China

SCREEN CAPTURE

CBS journalist Weijia Jiang confronts Donald Trump.

@#$%&*# Did Trump really say that? Did he say that Chinese Americans are angry at China because of the coronavirus? Sadly, he did.

Donald Trump just makes things up and his supporters take his words -- true or not -- at face value.

“Asian Americans are VERY angry at what China has done to our Country, and the World,” Trump wrote on Twitter Tuesday afternoon. “Chinese Americans are the most angry of all. I don’t blame them!”

Trump apparently is still bothered by the day before when he clashed with Chinese American journalist Weijia Jiang.  Near the end of Trump's Monday evening press conference, CBS reporter Jiang asked Trump why he continues to wrongly claim that the US is outperforming many countries in terms of testing for the coronavirus, according to NBC News.

“Why is this a global competition to you if every day Americans are still losing their lives and we’re still seeing more cases every day?” Jiang asked Trump.

Trump responded to Jiang, "Don't ask me. Ask China that question. OK? When you ask them that question, you may get a very unusual answer."

Trump tried to avoid answering Jiang's question by calling on the next reporter, but Jiang looked around to her fellow journalists with a quizzical look on her face, apparently not believing what she just heard. She interrupted Trump, “Sir, why are you saying that to me, specifically?” asked Jiang, who was raised in West Virginia after immigrating from China,

Trump said in response, ““I am not saying it specifically to anybody. I am saying it to anybody who would ask a nasty question like that.”

Trump offers no evidence or poll for his statement about Asian Americans hating China but he did draw some angry responses:

Seeking to deflect the blame for the impact the coronavirus has had on the US, Trump and the GOP are using an anti-China campaign in a series of ads and statements from senior administration officials who continue to repeat the unsubstantiated theory linking the origin of the outbreak to a possible accident at a Chinese virology laboratory. U.S. officials say they are still exploring the subject and describe the evidence as purely circumstantial. But Trump, aides say, has embraced the notion to further highlight China’s lack of transparency.

Last weekend, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos that there is “enormous evidence” that the virus began in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

According to CNN, the still-secret findings of the Five Eyes intelligence agencies (the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada) pour cold water on this claim. So too does Trump's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci.

At the beginning, after acknowledging the presence of the virus in the US, Trump began referring to the coronavirus as the "Chinese virus," or the "Wuhan virug," which he has since backtracked on partially because of the alarming spike in anti-Asian or anti_Chinese attacks against Asian Americans by bigots who follow Trump's lead.

'Why don’t you ask China?' Trump tells Asian American journalist in confrontation

ASAM NEWS

Donald Trump abruptly ended a White House briefing after another confrontation with CBS News’ White House correspondent Weijia Jiang on Monday.

“You’ve said many times that the U.S. is doing far better than any other country when it comes to testing,” Jiang said during the briefing. “Why does that matter? Why is this a global competition to you if, every day, Americans are still losing their lives, and we’re still seeing more cases every day?”

“Well, they’re losing their lives everywhere in the world, and maybe that’s a question you should ask China,” Trump retorted.

But Jiang, who is Chinese American, didn’t let Trump get away with that answer.

“Sir, why are you saying that to me, specifically, that I should ask China?” she asked.

Despite several reporters, including CNN’s Kaitlan Collins and PBS NewsHour’s Yamiche Alcindor, trying to cede their time to Jiang, Trump ignored them, abruptly ending the conference.

Trump faced immediate criticism over Twitter, many calling the incident “racist” and a “temper tantrum,” as well as applauding Jiang and the other reporters for their calm temperaments.

Other critics included former President Barack Obama’s Chief Strategist, David Axelrod, and MSNBC’s Joy Reid, who both noted the connection of Trump asking an Asian American reporter to refer her questions to China, as well as the ongoing trend of Trump’s dismissive attitude towards women reporters.

This isn’t the first confrontation between Jiang and Trump.

Trump told Jiang to “keep her voice down” during an April coronavirus task force briefing, complaining that he was being treated “unfairly.” (Jiang was calm throughout the entire exchange, and had not raised her voice or asked inappropriate questions.)

The same month, during another briefing, Trump called her tone while asking a question “very nasty,” then said, “You ought to be ashamed of yourself.” (Again, Jiang’s tone was not unusual, and she remained collected throughout the briefing.)

Jiang had also called attention to how coronavirus, or COVID-19, was being talked about by White House officials in March.