The Trump campaign advertisement released last month slamming presumptive Democrat nominee Joe Biden on his actions concerning China was not what it appeared to be, as its true purpose was to make China take the blame for the slow start in the United States in preparing for the oncoming coronavirus pandemic, political strategist Dick Morris told Newsmax TV Monday.
"The Trump campaign, I think, knows it's way too early for that," Morris told Newsmax TV's Sean Spicer on "Spicer & Co." "If they succeed, they get (New York Gov. Andrew) Cuomo or somebody as a candidate who might be harder to beat."
The real purpose of the ad is to shift blame to China and away from President Donald Trump for the response to the disease.
Biden's campaign, Morris said, is pushing that Trump did not take steps soon enough and that he'd referred to the virus, which has wreaked health and economic carnage in the United States, as a hoax.
"The defense that Trump is putting up is the idea that quickly, I did keep Chinese out," said Morris. "But the more effective defense is to say that if I was slow, it's because (China) hid it...that way he deflects blame and rebuts the central Democratic attack on him."
However, it would be a "big mistake" for Biden to attack Trump on his toughness on China because he'll "lose badly," as Trump is president and can always keep acting tougher, said Morris.
"All Trump needs to do is announce tomorrow that he's sanctioning China or cutting off student VISAs, or letting Americans sue China and recoup the interest they owe us, steps that would really devastate China," said Morris. "Trump can demonstrate how tough he is on China and Biden can't. And it's a short-sighted mistake for them to open this line of attack."
Morris added that he does think Trump is about to stand up to China, and most like will be doing it by a "tremendous amount" in the next few weeks.
"Of course he just negotiated the trade deal and he doesn't want to screw that up," said Morris. "I think that basically he understands the importance of being tough on China. He wouldn't let his campaign get out this far on that issue without planning to back it up with presidential action. So I would expect momentarily for him to do that, maybe today, maybe tomorrow."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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