Trump adviser: China using resurgent Covid scare 'to spook' U.S. into keeping economy closed

A senior policy adviser to a Trump advocacy group says China is "trying to spook" American media and blue-state governors into keeping the U.S. economy shuttered following the worst of the coronavirus pandemic.

Curtis Ellis, policy director with America First Policies, a 501c4 that works closely with Trump administration officials, said China is putting out disinformation to divide Americans.

"China put out information that Beijing's on a wartime footing because there was a second wave, because they got 57 cases of covid," Ellis told Just the News in a video interview. "This is meant for American consumption. They're trying to spook the American media and these blue-state governors to keep the economy shut down, to keep small businesses shut down."

Curtis, who was also a senior policy advisor with the Trump presidential campaign in 2016 and has been traveling this year with Vice President Mike Pence promoting a post-Covid economic recovery, said it was big businesses who have best been able to manage through the coronavirus. Large chain stores were allowed to remain open even while smaller businesses shut down.

"The big players have been doing quite well through this whole shutdown," Ellis said. "It's the small players, the small businesses, and the average American who can't work from a laptop, who work with their hands that have been hit hardest. So we need to get this going again."  

To watch the full interview with Ellis, click the video below:

Ellis said for decades leaders of the Democratic Party lulled Americans into a false sense of security about China by urging Americans to grow their business and other engagements with China.

"That's how you're going to help the reformers and not the hardliners," Ellis said Americans were told. "That was all a ruse."

Ellis said the Chinese charm offensive appears pulled from a playbook but with roles reversed.

"This is something that China is very aware of, by the way, in the 19th century, the Chinese Empire opened itself up to foreign capital," Ellis said. "And what happened was the local businessmen in China started to identify with the foreigners and to identify with the foreign capital. And those local elites, those local businessmen, essentially became lobbyists for the foreign capital. And that's what we've seen in America, that American businesses that have business interests in China are lobbying in Washington for pro-China policies ... Joe Biden is a great example of that. The people around Biden are examples of that. Larry Summers, a great example of that." 

Ellis was critical of more and more "investor visas" going to Chinese nationals, many of whom are likely affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party. 

"And so as we bring in these 'visas-for-sale' and bring in these investor visas, the money that's coming in, is serving China in two ways," Ellis said. "It's creating influencers in the United States, but their influence is going to be to push the Chinese Communist Party line in Washington. And this is very dangerous."