Jacob Ogles
Naples Republican Casey Askar is slamming China for allowing a global pandemic to spread in a new campaign ad.
“The Chinese government lied about the coronavirus, China unleashed the Wuhan pandemic to the world. Costing trillions. Costing jobs. Costing American lives,” Askar said.
The words come as footage of Chinese leaders wearing face masks appear on screen.
U.S. intelligence agencies believe the Chinese government withheld early information about the spread of COVID-19 in the Wuhan Province and continues to under-report the number of people infected and killed from contracting the coronavirus, according to Bloomberg News.
The advertisement is a significant venture into foreign policy for a businessman and first time candidate running for Congress in a 10-Republican field.
The ad also touches on a pandemic that has ground economic activity largely to a halt throughout the world, including Southwest Florida.
Some of the terminology may also turn heads. While Askar doesn’t say the phrase “Wuhan virus,” a term used by President Donald Trump that some decry as racist, Askar does identify the pandemic by the region of China where it originated.
While Trump has withered criticism over U.S. preparation for the pandemic, Askar in the ad said this crisis amplifies one message the Republican President has voiced for years— that China must be viewed with skepticism as a trade partner.
“This crisis proves President Trump is right,” Askar said. “We must control our border, bring manufacturing back to America, and stop depending on China.”
Askar interestingly has stressed his own immigrant story in early campaign ads. His family fled Iraq when he was a child to avoid late dictator Saddam Hussein’s persecution of Christians.
Askar, from the launch of his campaign, expressed support for Trump’s position on strong borders. The arrival of a coronavirus represents the danger of unchecked movement into the United States.
Askar also voiced support for continued pressure on China in coming years in talks between nations.
“China must pay. America must rebuild,”he said to close his ad. “Our survival depends on it.“
2 comments
Tjb
May 1, 2020 at 12:32 pm
We should also hold Trump accountable. He was aware of the virus and he did nothing to mitigate its consequences for months.
John
May 1, 2020 at 2:32 pm
Askar is tying his campaign to an anchor as are all the other down ballot republicans. Trump ignored his own intelligence people as many as 12 times and failed to act for 6 weeks while calling it a “democratic hoax”. He’s left the states to fend for themselves rather than lead and direct the response. Politicizing this pandemic and trying to shift blame to China is a hallmark of Trump. The American people can see through this as witnessed by his many 2 hour pandemic updates. For once, he was not only speaking to his base but to the electorate and they saw him for what he is, a narcissistic fraud with no empathy to what the American people are enduring.
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