Trump ad condemned for suggesting former Washington Governor Gary Locke is a Chinese official

A new Trump ad meant to show that presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is too cozy with China appears to imply that former Washington Governor Gary Locke is a Chinese official, reports the Washington Post.

An image of Locke, who formerly served as the US Ambassador to China, is briefly seen on stage at an event with Biden in China. The image is interspersed with other images of Chinese officials with Biden.

“During America’s crisis, Biden protected China’s feelings,” the ad states.

In a statement sent to AsAmNews, Frank Sharry of the group America’s Voice states “Leave it to Trump and his gang to fear monger and point fingers at those he wants to ‘other.’ As hate crimes against Asian Americans across the country spiked in recent weeks, the FBI issued a warning to local law enforcement that such crimes will escalate ‘based on the assumption that a portion of the US public will associate COVID-19 with China and Asian American populations.’ Now, President Trump’s campaign is spending money on ads to help make sure his acolytes make the connection with Asian Americans.”

Trump’s campaign defended the ad to the Post without acknowledging that Locke was mistaken for a Chinese official.

Tim Murtaugh says the ad “specifically places Biden in Beijing in 2013” with his son Hunter Biden who Trump’s campaign said benefited from his Chinese investments.

Trump along with first lady Melania Trump visited China in 2017. Scrutinizing a political family’s investments for conflicts of interest is fair game. Unfortunately, Trump refuses to allow such scrutiny of himself as he remains the only president or presidential candidate in modern day history not to release his taxes. We don’t know about any of Trump’s possible investments in China.

We also don’t know about any of Trump’s possible investments in Russia. Of course, Trump’s love affair with Russian President Vladimar Putin is well known. It is well know that Trump pursued constructing a building in Russia into June 2016 while he pursued the Republican nomination for president. We’ve also heard plenty about Russia’s disinformation campaign meant to discredit 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and support Donald Trump. Trump has denied he had anything to do with Russia’s misinformation campaign.

As for the latest Trump anti-China ad, the Biden campaign is calling it “repugnant.”

Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang also blasted Trump’s ad.

“Gary Locke is as American as the day is long,” he tweeted. “Trump rewriting history as if he effectively responded to the virus is utter garbage. We lost 70 days and thousands of lives due to his incompetence and disregard for what was happening overseas.”

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