Chinese Communist Party censors allowed users on its state-controlled site Weibo to comment extensively on the arrest of American former President Donald Trump on Tuesday, resulting in many cheering on the decline of the United States and predicting a civil war.
Trump was arrested and arraigned in Manhattan on Tuesday, indicted on 34 charges of fabricating business documents. The charges stem from alleged money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels, according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. During remarks late Tuesday, Bragg claimed that the alleged fabrications were related to attempts to “cover up crimes relating to the 2016 election.”
Weibo, the most popular Chinese regime-approved social media site in the country, had the news of Trump’s arrest on its front page as of Wednesday morning Eastern time, flooded with thousands of user comments. As the Chinese government strictly censors any content it considers contrary to Communist Party ideology or the interests of dictator Xi Jinping, observers can consider the thousands of reactions to Trump’s arrest still publicly available to be consistent with Beijing’s stance. Many of the comments furthermore echoed propaganda in the pages of the Global Times and Xinhua News Agency, two of China’s biggest government-run propaganda sites.
Other comments on the Weibo page included users joking that America would not exist after 136 years and mocking Trump with the nickname “Comrade Jianguo,” which emerged during Trump’s presidency. The nickname, which means “build the country,” is meant to mock Trump by claiming that his American policies are hurting the United States and thus helping China progress.
Yet other users claimed that Trump’s arrest was a sign of the “Koreanization” of American politics, an apparent reference to the fact that South Korea has prosecuted multiple recent presidents, most prominently conservative ex-President Park Geun-hye. Park was sentenced to 24 years in prison in 2018 for, among other allegations, allowing a high-ranking member of a cult access to sensitive national security addresses. Leftist President Moon Jae-in pardoned Park in 2021.
via joemiller