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Comment by SpicyLemonZest | Hacker News Reader

The CCP isn't a tremendously controversial issue in the US (the consensus against it is strong and bipartisan), so it's hard to see how it could become the central issue of the election.

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“Disapprove” vs. “go to war with”

Is there a single political figure in Washington arguing for war with the Chinese?

The issue is Biden appears much weaker than Trump on China. He has the baggage of being an Obama administration official (overseeing the South China Sea militarization and the US-China Cyber Agreement).

Some core Trump advisors like Peter Navarro (author of "Death by China" and the associated documentary) believe in economic decoupling far more deeply Biden advisors.

I agree some Democratic leaders like Chuck Schumer are hawks on China, but a Biden administration would be far less hawkish on the CCP issue than Trump.

I can see Trump using the 'nuclear option' and cutting off Hong Kong's ability to conduct transactions in US dollars (fatally killing the Hong Kong economy and deeply damaging China's, and far less so America's). I can't see Biden doing that.

Again, I'm not saying you're wrong, it's just hard to imagine such nitty-gritty details of the US-China relationship being the central issue of this election.

I believe geopolitics were a significant part of the last POTUS election. The parties are split based on their constituents relative anxiety over Russia. Also, Hillary's "no fly zone" over Russia's naval base in Syria seemed an important issue too.

I think you are vastly overestimating the degree of nuance involved in that election.

I have to agree, most Americans are using nothing but Chinese made products. If there was some commie scare that would be the first thing to go.

Easy. After carefully creating the enemy in the past four years (the relationship with China was then much better and people weren't using "CCP" as a stand-in for "China"), Trump will just need to stress that he's the only one who can protect Americans from the threat- those democrats weaklings were selling the country to the CCP and will continue to do so.

Job done.

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