GOP’s prime-time House hearing will be an anti-China hatefest

If you have a free evening and a stomach for thinly veiled racism, Tuesday’s House Republican-led hearing on China’s (supposed) “threat to America” is right up your alley. 

Building on the anti-China sentiment they’ve engendered for years now, Republicans have been signaling their intention to portray China and its people as our country’s primary foe, and the decision to host their first prime-time House hearing on this topic is more evidence that China is in the GOP’s crosshairs. (You can read some of my previous coverage of the party’s bigoted anti-China rhetoric here.) 

In the lead-up to Tuesday’s hearing, set for 7 p.m. ET, Republicans appear to be competing against one another to see who can take the most galling steps to demonize Chinese people. 

Texas politicians seem to be in pole position. In January, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott backed a proposed law that would ban Chinese citizens — as well as citizens from North Korea, Iran and Russia — from buying property in Texas. As NBC News notes, the proposal makes no distinction for legal permanent residents, visa holders or dual citizens.

And last week, Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Texas, questioned the “loyalty” of Rep. Judy Chu, a California Democrat who is the first Chinese American woman elected to Congress, and said she should be “looked into” because of her support for a Chinese American to head President Joe Biden’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Advisory Council. 

Gooden’s remarks were so ill-received that even the chair of the select committee holding Tuesday’s hearing, Rep. Mike Gallagher, had to condemn it. 

“We should not question anybody’s loyalty to the United States,” the Wisconsin Republican said. “I think that is out of bounds. It’s beyond the pale.”

Come Tuesday night, I anticipate Republicans will break this rule within three minutes of gaveling in.