Chinese President Xi Jinping sends sympathy message to Trump, Melania

Commentary/News with a Twist*

But Xi’s tone changed after seeing names on Covid-19 positive test list

*Note: Given the “bizarreness” of our current news environment please be forewarned – most of this story is true. Read the italicized paragraphs as they were intended. They are, “News with a Twist”.

U.S. News and World Report reported that Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan on Saturday sent a message of sympathy, wishing an early recovery for U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania from the COVID-19.

However, the magazine said that “State-controlled media pushed a different message earlier Friday. Hu Xijin, the editor of the state-owned Global Times newspaper, tweeted in English that Trump and the first lady had ‘paid the price’ for their actions.”

“President Trump and the first lady have paid the price for his gamble to play down the COVID-19. The news shows the severity of the US’ pandemic situation. It will impose a negative impact on the image of Trump and the US, and may also negatively affect his reelection,” Hu said.

USNWR also reported that China Daily, the country’s official English language newspaper and another outlet which the State Department has designated as being under government control, noted in an article that “Trump has shirked public health recommendations during the pandemic.”

What was not reported was that soon after sending his message to the Trumps, the Chinese President was shown a list of Republican office holders, White House staffers and Trump advisors who have tested positive for Covid-19 in just the last few days.

• President Donald Trump
• First Lady Melania Trump
• Senator Mike Lee (R-UT)
• Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC)
• Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI)
• Ronna McDaniel (RNC Chair)
• Hope Hicks (Trump Advisor)
• Kellyanne Conway (Former Trump Advisor)**
• Chris Christie (Former NJ Governor and Trump Advisor)
• Bill Stepien (Trump Campaign Manager)
• Rev. John Jenkins (President of Notre Dame University)

After seeing the list, Xi was reported to have said,

“中國病毒，我的屁股。這是REPUBLICAN病毒！”

"Chinese virus, my ass. This is the REPUBLICAN virus!

**Note: Kellyanne Conway’s daughter Claudia Conway, whose father George Conway, a founding member of the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump Republican organization, posted a video on TikTok announcing her mother’s diagnosis even before her mother issued a statement. Claudia Conway said she is “furious” that her mother, who brushed off wearing a mask during the pandemic, exposed the family to Covid-19.