How Trump Became a Cult Hero in the Chinese Community
I often wondered what drove my parents, who fled China’s Communist regime and immigrated to the US as refugees, to so fervently jump into the arms of President Trump. His administration has worked to systematically dismantle the country’s long-standing role as the world’s leader in welcoming people fleeing violence and persecution, such as my parents.
However, their support for Trump is unyielding. Their loyalty to him transcends to a spiritual level that surpasses any productive grounds for discussion or criticisms. Any facts are dismissed as “your opinion” and any criticism is rejected as being part of the “radical liberal” agenda to undermine his good deeds — which, for my parents, is solely based on his “tough talk” on China.
To my parents, Trump will be the savior of the Chinese people— He is the one leader bold enough to wage a trade war that, to them, would inevitably lead to the demise of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). They applauded Trump for calling COVID 19 the Chinese Virus, which in their minds, he was sticking it to the CCP, even though an alarming upsurge of violence on Asian Americans followed his racial reference.
When I pointed this out, they quipped that the violence was only directed towards Chinese national CCP members. As if the perpetrators would make such a distinction, I understood these words as my parents condoning anything Trump says or does as a justifiable means to an end.
Furthermore, my parents informed me that Chinese communists have infiltrated the US government. Therefore, they pledge their allegiance to Trump, who is the only one strong and audacious enough to root out infiltrators and protect this great country from falling into the hands of commies. In fact, Trump has been the missing link that the world needed to fight communism. These are my parents’ urgent and frenetic pleas to me as we debate the merits of Trump as the President of this country.
Perplexed by my parent’s gravity-defying views, I confirmed my suspicions after some research. All the pro Trump rhetoric that my parents were citing came directly from the media conglomerate called the Epoch Media Group that encompass all three vehicles — The Epoch Times, New Tang Dynasty, and Shen Yun.
The Epoch Times has become one of the main news sources for the US Chinese community. Their ownership and operation are closely tied to the Falun Gong, of which my parents are devoted members. For the past two decades, my parents read the Epoch Times every day, blared New Tang Dynasty on television at the crack of dawn, and attended Shen Yun dance performances a few times a year as an allegiance to the Falun Gong.
In certain urban areas, it is hard to escape the ubiquitous Shen Yun foot soldiers passing out leaflets to advertise their performances that feature “5000 years of unadulterated Chinese culture.” In fact, my parents’ preferred birthday gift to me for many years was to purchase me and my friends tickets to attend a Shen Yun performance — with them.
The shows are indeed majestic, and their political message is clear — the CCP is evil. Yes, they are. And, by the same logic, so is the Epoch Times, for promoting harmful conspiracy theories (spygate, pizzagate, QAnon, etc.), consolidating blind support to one named fearless leader, and fomenting distrust to weaken democratic values.
Although the Falun Gong had started the Epoch Times as a noble and critical voice box to push for democracy and bring attention to human rights violation in China, it has devolved into a disinformation vehicle that is driving an indiscriminate pro Trump campaign.
I asked my parents — How is getting information from one single source unlike the Chinese people being limited to one singular truth — the one that the CCP carefully curates and shapes for their consumption? How is a media outlet that has spent $10 million pushing pro Trump ads on Facebook (using fake accounts) not a propaganda machine like the CCP? How is an entire media outlet promoting one leader as the savior not a formula from the CCP playbook?
And if they are Falun Gong members, how do these actions reflect Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance — the three tenets by which they live?
My parent’s response to me: These are your opinions.
Many in the Chinese dissident community will support Trump as long as he is perceived to be the vessel that will crush the CCP. According to the Epoch Times, it does sound like the collapse is imminent. However, even if Trump’s hawkish trade policies will tip the scale towards the CCP’s eventual demise, I ask my parents — Does that mean we let the foundation of the house we live in erode without any inspection, just so the enemy’s house will fall?
To this, I am met with a canned response: As long as the CCP is in power, the rest of the world will suffer.
To me, as long as the Epoch Times is enacting as a self-appointed campaign proxy for Trump, conversations in Chinese families like mine will perpetually devolve into tongue-speak. Every conversation would be peppered with information that was extrapolated from a granular of fact, but then dressed up or simplified to fit their agenda.
For example, my parents profusely praised Trump for calling COVID 19 the “CCP Virus.” I wish he did call it the “CCP Virus,” which would have been apropos. But he never did, and the distinction is consequential. However, reading the Epoch Times, one would think that Trump intentionally coined and preferentially uses this term when he speaks on the issue to needle the CCP. Therefore, when facts are distorted, our conversations spiral.
Nonetheless, I persist to form a dialogue with my parents.
As any loving child who sees their parents falling prey to a cult, albeit this one in the form of the Epoch Media propaganda machinery, I want to save them from the misinformation tailspin. My parents risked their lives to come to this country, not only so that their children did not have to suffer under a communist regime as they did, but to also be able to participate in an open market of ideas.
However, such a marketplace of ideas can only be actualized if the citizenry strives to be informed and pursue a multitude of information sources to cross validate what the facts are. Therefore, in a recent discussion with my parents, I tried to nudge my way into their siloed reality by proposing that I send them one non-Epoch Times article a week, on a non-China issue that I feel concerned about. I would even take the time to (google) translate the article into Chinese.
They insisted that this was not necessary — more knowledge, in this case, is not power, but a distraction from what they want to believe.
“I like my tea exactly the way it is,” my dad said. “You can drink your tea how you like it.”
Growing up, drinking tea was a bonding experience with my family, where my parents recounted harrowing stories about the Cultural Revolution, starvation during the Great Leap Forward, imprisonment, and their eventual escape to Hong Kong. I listened earnestly as tea was poured by the younger generation for the elders.
In China, business deals and harmonizing disagreements are made over drinking tea.
As a Chinese American, I intend to continue these traditions. Over the phone, as I virtually poured tea into their tea cups, I told my parents that they do not have to read the articles for me, but for their grandson, who will be growing into a zeitgeist that this President will have indelibly influenced.
As a parent now, I have a newfound motivation to stay informed on a multitude of issues that will affect my child’s future, and I hoped that they would do the same for their grandson. They took a deep breath, and agreed.
The agreement: they will scan, not read, the articles that I send them.
I guess, even though my parents and I inhabit two disparate realities, in the end, when we focus on our children’s future, compromise can be achieved. And through the visceral love that we have for our children, being willing to open up to what causes us discomfort is a manifestation of that love that I aspire to pass on to the next generation, thanks to my parents.
