Republicans Can’t Stop Talking About China

Analysis of their Twitter activity finds Republicans more than 10x more likely to mention China than their Independents or Democrats
Tom Cotton
By Luca Powell

Pick a crisis out of a hat and Tom Cotton will tell you who's to blame.

International spying, COVID-19, outsourced American jobs, trade wars. In the view of the GOP Senator from Arkansas, all require Chinese ‘accountability’, a demand that Cotton has doggedly steered to the forefront of Republican political messaging.

“What’s unreasonable is the CCP’s espionage, IP theft, suppression of human rights, and oh yah, causing a global pandemic,” tweeted Cotton on May 16th, capping off a week of media appearances marked by anti-China mudslinging.

While Cotton still holds the megaphone, he’s now joined by a chorus of Republican politicians for whom China has become a persistent talking point. On Twitter, both candidates and incumbent members of the GOP eagerly pin the current global pandemic on the CCP. An analysis by The New York City News Service found that Republicans are more than ten times more likely to mention ‘China’ or ‘Chinese’ than their Democrat counterparts.

On his campaign account, Cotton mentioned China in 52% of his tweets (75 out of a total 143 tweets). He was closely followed by Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) who mentioned China in 41% of her tweets.

In the House, Congressman Mark Green (R-Tennessee) invoked China in 34% out of his past 200. Green invoked China the most out of any member of the House of Representatives.



The language comes at a time when a Republican-controlled White House is drawing scrutiny for its response to coronavirus. Some experts say that redirecting scrutiny towards China has a tactical value.

“This is the kind of work that political leaders do, right? Tell you how scary the world is, and that only they have the solution to that,” says Shana Gadarian, author of Anxious Politics and associate professor of political science at Syracuse University.

Cotton’s solution? Legislation and spending to curtail China. The senator’s FORCE Act, introduced in April, would ratchet up displays of American military power in the Pacific to the tune of $43 billion. He’s also called for legislation allowing Americans to sue China for coronavirus damages, as well a ban on China telecom from operating in the United States.

“That's kind of the formula. What seems to be a little different is that political leaders on the right, particularly the President and conservative media, have spent a lot of time telling people not to be afraid of coronavirus.”

Meanwhile, anti-China language has also trickled down to 2020’s down-ballot congressional races. Jeanne Ives, a Republican candidate in Illinois 6th district, has weaponized it against her Democratic opponent, Sean Casten.

“Sean Casten calls himself a scientist and yet he defends China,” Ives tweeted on April 28th. “These are the same markets where the virus likely started its spread. Sean should stop spreading Chinese propaganda immediately.”

It’s unclear if swinging at China will prove a winning electoral message, particularly in swing-districts like Illinois’ 6th. But relative to Ives’s other tweets, this one played well. The next day, she ran an identical message as an ad on Facebook.

Kathleen Murphy, communications director for the Ives campaign, declined to comment on the inflammatory language related to China, saying that it ‘doesn’t exist.’

When asked why she thought voters in Illinois would respond to messaging on China, Murphy said:

“It is not inflammatory for a Congressional candidate to comment on relevant world news and corresponding policies.”