Over the weekend we covered the fact that the Republicans are upset and increasingly nervous about the fact that Trump inevitably screws-up the few strategies they can put together during this period in which Trump looks so inept. Republicans plan to “blame China” exclusively and then tie Joe Biden to China through Hunter Biden’s business relationships around the world.

One problem with that strategy is that it is just so nakedly transparent and obvious (what other choices do Republicans have?), which allows the Biden campaign to effectively counter it. However, this ad is less about “countering” Republicans than it is about demonstrating how easy it is for someone with experience to know what steps to take in a crisis, versus Donald Trump’s “drunken sailor” approach to handling things. Most importantly, it uses video shot prior to all the shutdowns, juxtaposing Biden’s position and Trump’s position concerning China. And guess what? Biden demanded far more of China than Trump, who trusted their word. So much for the plan. Watch:

This is the most devastating political ad I’ve seen in years. It reveals the truth about Trump and China, and that truth is ugly. pic.twitter.com/52cNf9Ay9u

— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) April 18, 2020

Some on the internet believe the ad’s “anti-China” message is simply matching Trump’s xenophobic or racist approach step for step. Grow-up.

The video doesn’t show Biden calling to wipe off our debt to China, as some Republicans have, nor anything else inherently race-based or nativist. No, it shows Joe in a debate angrily insisting that he would have American scientists on the ground in Wuhan studying the virus (this was video from February) and getting information back to the United States, rather than trusting the findings from China.

Such a demand has nothing to do with racism or xenophobia, it’s demonstrating nothing more than how an experienced politician, one who has been in the White House during past pandemics, handles the situation, versus Trump.

Insisting one wants the best epidemiologists in the world on the ground at an outbreak would hold equally true if the virus emerged from Africa, South America, Europe, it’s simply a policy choice based on experience. If something unusual is happening anywhere around the globe, we want Americans there investigating and reporting back.

It is Biden’s most effective ad yet. Biden’s path to victory necessarily involves hanging responsibility for this pandemic right where it lies, Trump’s fearful, reckless and disorganized approach to fighting the virus back when it could have been contained.

****

Peace, y’all

Jason

[email protected] and on Twitter @MiciakZoom