As President Donald Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping comes to its end, some Republicans aren’t happy with the red carpet treatment the face of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) received. "Quite frankly, had the White House asked me for advice, I would have suggested the president not invite Xi Jinping to Washington for such a lavish welcome here in the United States of America, based on all of the troubling issues we have with President Xi and the Chinese Communist Party," Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said.
Wicker, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, has been one of the more vocal Republicans about his disdain for the meeting, which kicked off Wednesday afternoon when Trump met Xi at Joint Base Andrews — the first time a president has met with a foreign dignitary there since 2015. BIPARTISAN DUO WANTS TO REMIND CONGRESS, TRUMP OF CHINA'S 'ATROCITIES' AHEAD OF XI VISIT It comes as Republicans are running to hold onto power in the Senate. They departed their midterm convention in Dallas earlier this month with a rallying cry: "Common sense versus communism," as progressive candidates surge across the country.
The convention was designed to remind voters that while his name is not on the ballot, Trump’s agenda was. But his meeting with Xi, optically, runs afoul of that. "I mean, the president campaigned on an anti-China policy," Sen.
Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said. "You go look at those MAGA rallies and look at everybody cheering when he said he's gonna take it to China." "Any time we roll out the red carpet for a despot from Russia, or a despot from China, I feel the same way," he continued. "It's kind of not good." GOP FACES BRUTAL MIDTERM HEADWINDS AS REPUBLICANS PAINT ELECTION AS ‘COMPETITION WITH COMMUNISM’ Sen.
John Cornyn, R-Texas, said he was not "enthusiastic" about the summit, and said that China, Russia, Iran and North Korea were an "axis opposed" to the U.S. "I hope the president's clear-eyed about who he's dealing with," Cornyn told Fox News Digital. "I mean, he tends to call some of these dictators friends, and they're no friend.
I can guarantee." Some Republicans are willing to accept that a meeting between Trump and Xi is a necessary step in building a relationship between the two superpowers, even with the lavish nature of the summit. "I think there's value in being able to talk with your adversaries," Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told Fox News Digital. "And I think, in this case, you know, our two countries, the biggest economies in the world, have a symbiotic relationship." Sen.
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