Lin Min linmin67@hotmail.com MONTHS before Americans voted for their next president in November, Donald Trump, when questioned by journalists on several occasions, had repeatedly refused to promise that he would concede defeat if he lost to Joe Biden. Therefore it is no surprise that Trump would call the election a fraud even though the whole world, including his Republican lackeys, acknowledges Biden scored a clear win. However, the great lengths he has gone to in trying to upend the election outcome is stunning. After his legal challenge to the election result was thrown out by courts dozens of times, he reportedly discussed with some extremist aides on imposing martial law in some states to try to change the outcome, and insisted a special counsel be appointed to investigate voter fraud even after then-Attorney General William Barr, who was appointed by Trump himself and had hitherto been loyal to Trump, refused to follow his order, saying the Justice Department had found no evidence of widespread fraud in the election. Trump even attacked the leading members of his own party such as Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for not siding with him after they acknowledged Biden’s victory. Now deserted by most of his lieutenants, the increasingly frustrated lame duck president is seeking to pressure Republicans to pull out a far-fetched, last-ditch challenge to the election during a joint session of Congress to ratify the election result Jan. 6. As a demagogue, Trump deftly uses China as the bogeyman in a desperate attempt to portray himself as tough on China and label Biden as weak and accommodating to the Asian country. An online post by Trump’s team highlights the words “CHINESE SPY” to catch attention, and claims “Biden will allow China to compromise the United States.” So “contribute now to defend America,” the post says, revealing its real goal of raising donations. On Christmas Eve, Trump retweeted a video, titled “The Plot to Steal America,” which falsely claims that all American society’s problems were caused by the Chinese Communist Party who the announcer says has plotted for decades to destroy the United States. U.S. mainstream media have received billions of dollars from China so they are friendly to Biden, and only Trump is fighting for Americans, the video claims. The announcer, Seth Holehouse, repeats dozens of already-debunked claims in the video, and preposterously alleges that COVID-19 is part of China’s plot to take over America. But more tellingly, at the end of the video he invites people to subscribe to his email list at a website that solicits cash donations. The nonsense video went viral after Trump retweeted it. The fact that the president of the most powerful country in the world retweeted a video with so many outlandish, baseless and illogical claims speaks volumes of his lack of integrity and other qualities as a president. Trump not only retweets false allegations and conspiracy theories, but also makes baseless accusations. While downplaying Russia’s alleged role in the cyberattack that targeted several U.S. federal agencies and companies, — contradicting the finding of his intelligence officials — Trump says in a tweet Dec. 20 that the United States should be “discussing the possibility that it may be China (it may!).” Even when the Congress failed to agree on a stimulus, Trump blamed China. “Why isn’t Congress giving our people a Stimulus Bill? It wasn’t their fault, it was the fault of China,” he tweeted Dec. 20. And then on Dec. 25, he continued to shift blame on China in a tweet, “Why would politicians not want to give people $2000, rather than only $600? It wasn’t their fault, it was China.” All these add to the evidence that Trump is waging a disinformation campaign in a desperate effort to garner support from his base, clinging to a glimmer of hope for staying in power. With U.S. courts shutting the door of legal challenge and the Electoral College confirming the election outcome, Trump’s further shenanigans will not earn him a second term. However, his disinformation campaign will deepen the China bias among some Americans whose minds have been poisoned by various conspiracy theories and ideological bigotry. Ezra Vogel, a prominent U.S. scholar on China who died last week after committing a lifetime to building a bridge of understanding between the two nations, offered a precious lesson on how to treat other countries. “He had an irrepressible ability to see the good in every person and every nation,” Vogel’s son, Steven, says of his father. China and the United States should also see the good in each other, and address their differences in trade imbalances, technology and other aspects in light of the spirit of mutual benefit and mutual respect. Vogel’s vision shares similarity with former U.S. President Harry S. Truman’s “Golden Rule for World Peace.” After World War II, Truman gave a speech to the nation to rally support for world peace, saying “I am asking you to exercise that admonition which we will find in the Gospels and which Christ told us was the way to get along in the world: ‘Do by your neighbor as you would be done by.’” Trump’s confrontational, bullying and scorched-earth approach will do good to neither China nor the United States. When Trump leaves the White House voluntarily or is evicted by force next month, it is time for the two countries to reset their relations. However, the rebooting of ties will require tremendous courage and wisdom, because although Trump is going, Trumpism is likely to continue to haunt U.S. and international politics. (The author is a deputy editor-in-chief of Shenzhen Daily.) | 