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Donald Trump has found an unlikely group of supporters — in China.
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Weibo was flooded with support for Trump after he said he could be arrested on Tuesday.
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Trump-loving Chinese users called him “comrade” and “king” and urged him to fight the charges.
Former President Donald Trump has found an ardent group of supporters on Chinese social media, and his claims of a looming arrest have bounced around the internet.
At 11:30 p.m. Beijing time on Saturday, news of a possible indictment of Trump surged to the top of the charts on the Twitter-like Weibo platform. The hashtag “Trump says he will be arrested soon” was the fifth most read topic on Weibo on Saturday night, with over 59 million views.
this was right after Trump wrote to Truth Social on Saturday that he will be arrested in New York next week. Trump’s allegations of possible arrest are not based on any facts released by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Susan Necheres, the former president’s lead attorney, said Saturday that information that Trump would be “arrested,” as Trump claimed, did not come from the Manhattan DA office, but her client Truth Social’s I was careful not to directly object to the post.
“President Trump bases this on the press,” Nekeles told an insider.
The hashtag went viral on Weibo, prompting a flood of support for Trump on the platform. Many of the Trump-loving Weibo commenters, who made up the majority of the hundreds of posts the insider saw, encouraged him not to give up and to fight the criminal charges with all his might.
“Donald Trump, don’t back down. America is big enough to split in two. Do what you gotta do, MAGA!” Read 1 comment.
“If Trump gets arrested, it will be a sign of the corruption of the American psyche,” said another. read.
“Trump, America needs you” Written by a Weibo commenter.
Some Weibo commenters called on his “redneck supporters” to “rally around their king”. Others have called Trump a “comrade,” a term commonly used to refer to Chinese officials. Including Chinese leader Xi Jinping — and urged him to “go bravely forward.”
Detractors of Mr Trump also spoke out on Weibo, but far outnumbered his supporters.
“I look forward to seeing the old bastard arrested and jailed.” read one comment.
“This madman needs to be locked up or he’ll be spitting nonsense all day long.” Written by another Weibo user.
Some commenters on Weibo also found the whole idea of Trump being indicted exciting, likening his possible arrest to an incident on a reality show.
“Fun! When will it air?” Read comment From a Weibo user.
Weibo is a platform It is tightly controlled and heavily censored by the Chinese government. The fact that the viral thread and above comment was not immediately removed from the platform is a good indicator that the Chinese government is allowing such pro-Trump discourse to happen.
It should come as no surprise that some Chinese don’t want an indictment of Trump or a prison sentence that could derail his 2024 presidential ambitions.
Researcher at the Brookings Institution think tank wrote in 2016 Some Chinese citizens saw Mr. Trump as a boon to Beijing and a presidential candidate more focused on strengthening trade ties. CNN reported in 2020 that some Chinese social media users see Trump as a better candidate than President Joe Biden.
Meanwhile, the possibility of indictment in New York looms large against Trump.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Under investigation whether Trump paid US adult movie actress, Stormy Daniels, violates New York elections and documents law. Bragg is also investigating whether these payments should be considered Trump’s illegal campaign expenses.
daniels she says had an affair with Trump in 2006. Trump has consistently denied having an affair with Daniels.he also said that he paid her $130,000 to keep quiet about the relationship ahead of the 2016 election.
A Trump spokesman and Sina’s Weibo representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment from an insider.
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