Former U.S. ambassador to China Max Baucus
Posted on 05/21/2020 5:56:48 AM PDT by MarvinStinson
Former ambassador Baucus appears regularly on Chinese propaganda outlets
As the novel coronavirus wreaks havoc across the world, the Obama administration's ambassador to China has found a second lease on life as a pro-China talking head on regime propaganda outlets.
Former ambassador Max Baucus has given at least four different interviews to Chinese propaganda outlets in the last two weeks, repeatedly comparing the U.S. rhetoric about China to both the McCarthy era and Nazi Germany.
"Joe McCarthy [and] Adolf Hitler … rallied people up, making people believe things that were really not true," Baucus said during a May 12 interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), a regime mouthpiece. "The White House and some in Congress are making statements against China that are so over the top and so hypercritical, they are based not on the fact, or if they are based on fact, sheer demagoguery, and that's what McCarthy did in the 1950s."
Since his retirement in 2017, Baucus has been a reliable critic of the Trump administration's increasingly confrontational China policy—chiefly the decision to wage a trade war with Beijing. He once warned that the White House's decision to impose additional tariffs was a "slap on the face" to China. But Baucus's recent comments in the pandemic era have been more sympathetic to China—and critical of the United States—than ever before.
His post-retirement public statements praising China have coincided with his burgeoning overseas investments. In 2017, he founded the Baucus Group, a consulting firm that advises both American and Chinese businesses, according to his U.S. Chamber of Commerce biography. He also sits on the board of directors for Ingram Micro, a U.S. subsidiary of a Chinese state-owned conglomerate, as well as the board of advisers for Alibaba Group, one of China's largest tech companies.
Walter Lohman, director of the Asian Studies Center at the Heritage Foundation, said that it was "inappropriate" for a former ambassador to speak ill about his own government on a foreign propaganda outlet.
"It's like going to China and … talking about your own government that way in meetings. I think that would be pretty inappropriate," Lohman said. "So it would be inappropriate speaking on state media."
Baucus's public statements have received considerable attention from Beijing's propaganda outlets. When the former ambassador compared President Donald Trump's criticism of China to rhetoric used by Adolf Hitler and Joe McCarthy during a May 6 interview with CNN, Chinese propaganda outlets quickly amplified Baucus's comments about how Trump was "a little bit like Hitler in the '30s" and that Americans were worried about "getting their heads chopped off" if they voice their disagreement with the U.S. government's China policy. Xinhua News Agency, a state-owned outlet, extensively cited Baucus's attacks in a May 8 article, using it as evidence that the Trump administration is attempting to "deflect criticisms about their blunders by blaming China." The article was syndicated in party-controlled mouthpieces such as Global Times and People's Daily, according to the Investigative Research Center.
Baucus then appeared on CGTN on May 12 to double down on his Hitler and McCarthy comparison, blaming the Trump administration for flaming "sheer demagoguery."
"[The current U.S. rhetoric] is somewhat reminiscent, nowhere close to that yet, somewhat reminiscent of the McCarthy era and somewhat reminiscent of Germany in the 1930s," he told CGTN.
The former ambassador also gave an exclusive interview to Global Times on May 14, where he said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's claim that the virus may have originated in a Wuhan laboratory "makes no sense" and accused both Democrats and Republicans of being tough on China to score political points in an election year.
Baucus again appeared on CGTN on May 15, where he claimed that America is "sliding toward a form of McCarthyism" because the Trump administration is pressuring policymakers to be tough on China. The former ambassador did another CGTN media hit on May 16, this time appearing alongside his wife Melodee Hanes, who blamed the presidential election for making dialogue "difficult."
"There are a lot of pretty smart people in the United States who are not speaking up. People in office, moderates, especially moderates on the Republican side," Baucus said on May 15. "They are afraid to speak up, they are intimidated, intimidated by President Trump. And it's kind of sliding toward a form of McCarthyism—how it is politically incorrect to speak the truth, speak the truth to power."
When the Washington Free Beacon called the phone number listed for Baucus's home address, no one answered. A lawyer representing Baucus Group, the ambassador's consulting firm, also did not respond to a request for comment.
While Baucus rarely enjoyed this much attention from Chinese state media outlets after his retirement, this is not the first time he has spoken to Chinese media outlets in recent years. Baucus also gave an exclusive interview to People's Daily in March 2018, criticizing U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods as the "wrong policy" and "too confrontational." He has also spoken at events backed by the China-U.S. Exchange Foundation, a registered foreign agent of the Chinese government according to a 2018 congressional report.
Lohman, the Heritage Foundation expert, said that while Baucus has the right to appear on any domestic and foreign outlets, he should not have addressed a propaganda outlet with the same degree of candidness that he did with CNN.
"I think he must have gotten wrapped up in the media performances because when you shift from CNN to Global Times or CGTN, you've gone to an entirely new level," he said. "And there I think you just have to express yourself differently. It's not an appropriate place to air political differences."
Former U.S. ambassador to China Max Baucus
Bingo.
Baucus is not uncommon this way and embodies the lethal failing of the State Department in general. If for example you are assigned to the “China desk” you begin to think you work for China. Why the whole swamp needs to be severely reformed.
It is pretty clear that ignorant, traitorous SOB has absolutely zero clue about who Joseph McCarthy was and what and how he did things in his life.
Joseph McCarthy was ahead of his time, should be treated as an American Hero, was proven right in the vast majority of his estimations of who was working with the Communists, and bought our country about 40-50 years of time before scumbags like this a-hole Max Baucus became socially accepted in society and government.
An American Citizen as a mouthpiece of the Communist party. Tokyo Rose indeed.
“Joe McCarthy [and] Adolf Hitler … rallied people up,
= = =
or did he say . . . riled people up?
Another useless former US Senator. Well, I guess he’s useful for China.
GHWB II?
Beijing Peony you mean.
At least Baghdad Bob was from Iraq, so he had some kind of loyalty.
Beijing Baucus is from Montana.
Now he is open about is primary allegiance. It is not to the United States.
The arabists in the US State Department are the prime example.
Xi Pooh and Obama have shared custody of this poodle boy. He radiates sleaze.
It is to MONEY.
What do you think they are paying him?
I think there’s also some sort of brainwashing going on if Baucus actually doesn’t see how quickly a person can fall out of favor with the CCP once they are no longer useful and instead become a liability because someone better positioned wants what they have.
heard mention of this JP Morgan report somewhere today - has to have been on Fox. can’t find the actual report, but it looks anti-Trump, pro-China to me.
lots of replies here, have checked some, including one asking why is it “devastating” - don’t you want deaths to decrease?
20 May: Tweet: Carl Quintanilla, Anchor @CNBC @NBCNews / @WSJ alum / @NYCityCenter board member / “Empathy is the most essential quality of civilization.” - Roger Ebert
JPMorgan has a devastating piece arguing that infection rates have declined — not increased — in states where lockdowns have ended, “even after allowing for an appropriate measurement lag.” (Kolonavic)
CHART
Same goes for various countries, adds JPM. “This means that the pandemic and COVID-19 likely have its own dynamics unrelated to often inconsistent lockdown measures that were being implemented..”...
More JPM: “In the absence of conclusive data, these lockdowns were justified initially.” But “millions of lives were being destroyed .. with little consideration that [lockdowns] might not only cause economic devastation but potentially more deaths than COVID-19 itself.”...
JPM: Demagogues “will be tempted to use COVID-19 to blame immigrants, people of a different race, or use the pandemic as a pretext to intensify geopolitical tensions. .. We will closely monitor how these risks evolve, but at this point see them as potential tail risks..”
JPM: “The initial response of the administration was to downplay the risk of the COVID-19 epidemic. However, since then, this simplistic thesis changed significantly. The administration shifted to forecasting a larger negative impact (setting the stage for them to ‘outperform’ ..
... shifting the pandemic blame to China and the WHO, and .. shifting the blame for economic pain to large blue states that are perceived to be slowing down the reopening of the economy. Indeed, allowed economic activity across the country is now largely following partisan lines”
https://twitter.com/carlquintanilla/status/1263170459450978314
today, on pro-China, taxpayer-funded ABC Australia, a former career diplomat criticised Trump/Australian Govt for wanting inquiry into origin of covid19.
at 5m40s: McCarthy claims most countries are trying to distance themselves from Trump’s statements. very important Australia distinguishes its positions from American policies, especially while Trump is President and, especially, in an election year.
AUDIO: 7m45s: 21 May: ABC Australia: China ups the ante in its stand-off with Australia
on “Breakfast” with Fran Kelly
China has upped the ante in its stand-off with Australia, suggesting via its state run Global Times paper that, Australia was “a giant kangaroo serving as a dog of the US.”
The slur follows Beijing’s decision slap massive tariffs on Australian barley and block beef shipments from four major abattoirs.
China has also mocked Australia’s push for a global investigation into the origins of the coronavirus, which was confirmed at the World Health Assembly earlier this week, calling our efforts “a joke”.
Guest:
John McCarthy, former diplomat who was Australia’s Ambassador to several Asian countries and the United States
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/china-ups-the-ante-in-its-stand-off-with-australia/12270234
note the date of the following. ABC would be aware of McCarthy’s anti-Trump obsessions...which would be why they chose to have him on today:
1 Jan 2017: East Asia Forum: What Australia needs to do after Trump
by John McCarthy
(John McCarthy AO served as Australian ambassador to the United States, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam and Mexico and as high commissioner to India. He is a former president of the Australian Institute of International Affairs)
The question is increasingly being asked: what is democracy if Trump is the result? And can Australia (or other democratic countries) continue to base its policies on the assumption of shared values if that assumption is false with this new Trump administration?...
Australia should also encourage serious bilateral dialogue between the United States and China, rather than seek a bridging role...
Australia must stick to its own values. And in four years, the United States’ outlook may revert to something with which Australia again has something in common.
https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2017/01/01/what-australia-needs-to-do-after-trump/
Indeed
CCP does seem unusually apt to overplay their hand.
Yeah it does look like a pattern
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