Josh Hawley vs. Rahm Emanuel - WSJ Editorial

[question everything]

Josh Hawley doesn’t think Rahm Emanuel is fit to serve as U.S. ambassador to Japan because he “clearly does not understand the China threat.” The evidence? In an interview with the Washington Free Beacon, the Missouri Republican cited Mr. Emanuel’s pursuit of Chinese investment as mayor of Chicago.

That’s a stretch. Part of a mayor’s job is to seek investment for his city. Until very recently, almost any mayor or governor would have welcomed Chinese investment. Even under Donald Trump, who has never been accused of being soft on Beijing, China wasn’t blocked from buying U.S. Treasury bonds. It still isn’t.

Sen. Hawley has a legitimate point about Chinese investment, but it has little to do with mayors. This is because Beijing has made clear its companies are expected to support its military and intelligence ambitions. The sheer size of China’s economy and its integration into global supply complicates decisions that would otherwise be left to the market.

(snip)

Partly out of such concerns, Congress in 2018 passed the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act. The law updated the rules for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to address security concerns. This week President Biden expanded to 59 the number of Chinese companies that Americans are barred from investing in. Selective decoupling from China is a better strategy than blacklisting from government any American who has dealt with China.

In any case Mr. Emanuel would be ambassador to Tokyo, not Beijing. Presidents make foreign policy. If it turns out the U.S. doesn’t appreciate the threat from China, that will be on Joe Biden, not Rahm Emanuel.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/josh-hawley-vs-rahm-emanuel-11622845531 (subscription)

[Tanuki]

1. Hahaha! Prior to becoming Trump's Ambassador to Japan, TN's new

junior senator and Hawley's fellow Big Lie perpetrator, Bill Hagerty, was in hot pursuit of Chinese investment! Crickets from Hawley.

https://www.tn.gov/news/2012/1/18/commissioner-hagerty-to-lead-trade-mission-to-china-and-south-korea.html

" The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development announced today that Commissioner Bill Hagerty will lead ECD’s trade mission to China and South Korea April 15-21, 2012 that will focus on Tennessee’s medical device manufacturers and other health care companies. Applications are available at tn.gov/ecd/tntrade/trademission, along with a video explaining the trade mission. The deadline for companies to apply is Feb. 1. The trade mission is part of the recently announced TNTrade, a new initiative designed to help boost exports by Tennessee’s small- and medium-sized businesses.

“Last year, Tennessee exported roughly $30 billion dollars in goods; however, fewer than two percent of all Tennessee companies are exporters,” Hagerty said. “This trade mission will allow participants to be introduced to potential distributors and customers in the rapidly growing Asian market and explore new sources of revenue.”

Hagerty will lead a group of approximately 10 medical device manufacturers and other health care companies on visits to Beijing and Shenzhen in China and Seoul, South Korea. Participants will attend meetings arranged by the U.S. Commercial Service as well as attend the China International Medical Equipment Fair, the largest exhibition of medical equipment and related products and services in the Asia-Pacific region.

Participants will be provided with lodging, ground and air transportation, interpreters and meetings during the trade mission. Companies selected to go on the trade mission must arrange and purchase their own airfare to and from Asia."...(more)

[Hugh_Lebowski]

2. Josh Hawley is full of shit on this issue because Josh Hawley is ALWAYS full of shit

I could've saved them a lot of ink

[mopinko]

3. rahm's an asshole, but he's our asshole.

and sometimes, you need an asshole.
he's also a gangster. no quibble.

i wouldnt want to live next to him, but would love to have him on my side in a bar fight.

[murielm99]

6. I wish we could clone Rahm.

We need more ruthless people just like him.

Ahh! Chicago Democrats!

[Jim__]

4. I can't read the article, but I'm curious, does Josh Hawley explain the China threat?

And does he explain how Emanuel's being ambassador to Japan would affect the China threat? Or is he just throwing words around?

[ShazamIam]

5. To Reppublicans and other U.S. conservatives, "Chinese," translates to any Asian. N.Koreans, S. K,

Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, China, all the same to them. It is just another way of pushing their colonial based racism, if you aren't White and not from EU.

[Lucky Luciano]

7. Bingo! My Japanese wife takes very strong exception to being asked about China because she's Asian.

“We’re an island quite distinct from China you fucking twatwaffle!”

Ok...I embellished a bit, but that sentiment is exactly her sentiment!

Sometimes people will still press on a question about China like she should know...oh boy...

[Bucky]

8. 😆 I tried to get a translation for twat and waffle

But apparently "twatwaffle" is a word that Google doesn't mind translating...

ツワワッフル
Tsuwawaffuru

[Lucky Luciano]

9. Haha...

The last four katakana syllables do say Waffuru which is how they would literally say Waffle with their requirements that all syllables have a vowel (except the “n” syllable). If there is no vowel, they usually fill it with a “u” pronounced like the “oo” in “good”. If the “u” would follow a t, they fill with an “o” instead.

I don’t think they got the first part right though!