Tucker Carlson: When the coronavirus passes, we must treat China like a dangerous Cold War adversary
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So once the coronavirus passes and thank God, at some point it will pass, the temptation will be in the United States to return to where we were before. But we can't do that. There's too much to fix, and we've just learned that.
This disaster arrived here for a number of reasons, some of them we could not control. In the age of air travel, disease will always travel quickly. Pandemics are inevitable, we should accept that.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CORONAVIRUS CASES TOP 200,000 WORLDWIDE, DEATH TOLL PASSES 8,000
But our responses to them are not inevitable. Nobody forced us to outsource the production of essential medical supplies to China. Our leaders did that and they did it on purpose. They don't want to talk about it now at all, but they did it, and it was a crime
When the country is well enough to function normally, we're going to have to change that immediately for our own sake and for the sake of our children. We need to move essential manufacturing back to the United States. It's crazy not to.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}More broadly, we'll need to start treating China like the dangerous Cold War level adversary it has clearly become.
Don't let them lie to you. This crisis began in China, and that's significant, whether coronavirus escaped from a bioresearch lab, as independent Chinese scientists have claimed, or arose in a filthy street market selling wild animals for food. Either way, China's third world health practices played a central role in this disaster.
The virus grew to a pandemic because Chinese officials silenced health authorities in that country who tried to warn the public about it. Even now, the Chinese government is determined to crush any unsanctioned reporting from the country.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}On Tuesday, Beijing announced it is revoking the press credentials for reporters from the biggest American newspapers. They don't want us to see what they're doing there. And at the same time, they're threatening us. One state-backed media outlet explained that China may cut off our supply of pharmaceuticals. That would kill Americans.
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China is an imminent threat to the United States. One of the few upsides of this pandemic is we can now see that clearly because it is clear.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But some of us can't see it. Amazingly, our ruling class is taking China's side, and that again, is the good news about a crisis. It clarifies things. You can see exactly what side people are on.
Now, some of our leaders are doing this on purpose because they're getting rich from China. Many of the media are just too dumb to know the difference. Dumbness is almost always the explanation for how they behave. China understands how to control their emotions and therefore their minds.
The Chinese government knows that identity politics is the greatest weakness in the American system. It always is the greatest weakness in every country it infects. And that's why they don't allow identity politics in China.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}China is an imminent threat to the United States. One of the few upsides of this pandemic is we can now see that clearly because it is clear. But some of us can't see it.
The Chinese know that any debate in this country can be derailed instantly if someone screams "racist" as someone inevitably does. So the Chinese have decided to use wokeness against us. The most racist power on Earth -- this is the country that puts Muslims in concentration camps. The country that stamps out Tibetan culture; the country that would not accept a single Somali refugee at gunpoint. This country is calling us bigoted. It's hilarious in a way.
What's amazing is how many in our media take it very seriously. On Tuesday Xinhua News -- that's one of China's propaganda organs, tweeted this: "Racism is not the right tool to cover your own incompetence." Okay.
In Europe, China actually promoted the spread of coronavirus. In early February of this year, China global television network released a video entitled "Italian residents hug Chinese people to encourage them in coronavirus fight." The video featured a young Chinese man wearing a face mask soliciting hugs from passersby. A month later that video doesn't look quite as heartwarming.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}More recently, the same Chinese network tweeted this: "Shall we call H1N1 American flu? No, we'd rather focus on saving lives. So said the country that lied about the pandemic.
By the way, and point of fact: The 2009 H1N1 outbreak began in Mexico, not the United States.
China dominates America because our own leaders sold us out.
Meanwhile, China's ambassadors are already spreading the lie that the Wuhan virus originated here in America, maybe created in a lab by the Pentagon. Don't be shocked if at least one American media outlet promotes that idea. Many of them already parroting the rest of the Chinese Communist Party line.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A week ago, aging propagandist David Frum of The Atlantic suggested calling the coronavirus "The Trump plague" instead of the Wuhan virus. On Tuesday, NBC News sent a tweet suggesting President Trump's use of the phrase "Chinese virus" was, "both inaccurate and harmful in tying racist associations between the virus and those from China."
Another statement written by morons in our news media. How is it inaccurate to call a virus from China "Chinese"?
The president, to his credit, does not seem intimidated.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Reporter: China and others have criticized you for using the phrase Chinese virus. How do you feel about that? Are you guys going to continue using that phrase?
President Trump: Well, China was putting out information which was false that our military gave this to them. That was false. And rather than having an argument I said, I have to call it where it came from. It did come from China.
Reporter: Critics say using that phrase creates a stigma?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Trump: No, I don't think so. No, I think saying that our military gave it to them creates a stigma.
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Good for him. That was Trump at his very best.
Why would our media take the side of China in a crisis like this? Well, because instead of preparing to confront China and free ourselves from their control, our professional classes are defending the Chinese government and sharing their propaganda. Why?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Well, it's not a sinister plot by Asian communists -- it's actually worse than that. In many ways, you can't blame the Chinese for this. They're doing what any government should be doing. They're putting their country and its interests first. If it takes a little disinformation to get it done, they're willing to do that.
No. China dominates America because our own leaders sold us out. They didn't know what they were doing. But even worse, they were greedy. They were looking out for short term benefits for themselves, rather than long term security for our country.
Some of them seem to generally despise America, particularly in academia, which is why they race to call this country evil while happily placating Beijing. That's what Hollywood does every day of the year. Someday these people may be punished for what they've done. Again, it's a crime. At a minimum, they will have to be deprived of power or influence going forward.
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But for now, we don't have time for that. We need to be honest about what the problem is, and we need to work as hard as we can to fix it.
Adapted from Tucker Carlson's monologue from "Tucker Carlson Tonight" on March 17, 2020.
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