Chinese E-commerce Sites selling T-Shirts After Trump Assassination Attempt

Kristi Flora Karki

Soon after the news broke worldwide that a failed assassination attempt on the life of Donald Trump, former President and US presidential candidate, was made at a campaign event at Pennsylvania on July 13 2024, Chinese e-commerce sites such as Taobao and Pinduoduo dissipated no time in making and selling T-Shirts and tote bags emblazoned with the bloodied face of Trump demonstrating the repercussions of the incident.

According to the Taobao seller Li Jinwei, it received 2000 orders from both China and the US within 3 hours of putting the merchandise on e-sale.

Chinese E-commerce Sites selling T-Shirts After Trump Assassination Attempt

Other Chinese social media sites were equally abuzz about the news of the shooting incident. China’s largest social media site Weibo garnered over 230 million views.

Many Chinese experts believed that the assassination attempt was genuine and speculated that it could positively influence Trump’s campaign. On the other hand, a section of them speculated that the shooting was staged managed.

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Similarly, Jin Hao, former executive editor of Jinhao News Agency’s “World Military”, opined that after looking at the clips from the scene and observing Tramp’s remarkably swift reaction, he was shot as soon as he touched his ears and he immediately lied down.

He added that this wasn’t something that ordinary people can react to. Others echoed that it was practiced hundreds of times.

A section of Chinese bloggers however, shot down the conspiracy theory stating that Trump’s ear injury was just a few centimeters away from the brain. One Jin Canrong, professor at the school of international relations at Renmin University of China who is known for his strong anti-American stance, opined that it was a case of assassination bid. He added that the photos from the scene depicting injured Trump raising hands in a fighting gesture was effectively creating a heroic image for himself.

An academician at Taiwan’s Tunghai university expressed that Trump was shot during a live telecast and the shooter was killed on the scene, leaving little scope for the investigating agencies to unearth conspiracy theory if any exists and added that the ongoing culture of political assassination in the United States warrants more attention.

On the other hand, a member of the National Union of the Journalist ridiculed overwhelming enthusiasm of Chinese netizens for discussing the shooting stating that Chinese people have no liberty to discuss domestic politics that’s why they are showing so much interest when negative topics related to American democracy arise.

Chinese Foreign Ministry announced that president Xi Jinping expressed his sympathies to Donald Trump. Initially Chinese social media had a mixed reaction on the Trump’s presidency citing his protectionist policies but he remains a popular figure among the Chinese public especially online.

One of the senior researchers at Brookings Institute commented that both Joe Biden and Donald Trump are problematic for China, adding that Biden may bring more stability while Trump’s unpredictability and pressure tactics would create strategic difficulties for China, making him a less desirable option in the short term.

Meanwhile as per US intelligence agencies, China may not try to influence the outcome of the US presidential race, seeing little advantage in choosing between two parties as both the parties will seek to contain Beijing.

The shooting incident took place on July 13, 2024 at an election rally in Pennsylvania, causing bullet injuries on the right ear of the former president while he was addressing the audience. Soon after the attempt on the life of Trump, Joe Biden, US president condemned the incident terming it as “sick” and appealed all to unite.

Meanwhile the whole incident is being investigated by FBI.

One of the bystanders was killed and two severely injured in the shooting. The 20- year- old Thomas Matthew Crooks, assassin suspect was immediately shot down on the spot by the Secret Service force. The incident has raised immediate questions on the security systems and its failure in avoiding such life-threatening incidents.

This was the second attack on Trump during his public rallies, first one took place in 2016, when a man tried to disarm a security officer at a rally in Las Vegas. As per the available data, four US presidents were assassinated, while three other presidents were wounded, but survived assassination attempts, while in office or afterwards.

16-07-2024

Kristi Flora Karki is a student of Communication & Journalism, Gauhati University

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