China on Trump’s Conviction

Netizens, academics, and botnets on the 34 felonies

The Chinese internet is notorious for bots, censorship, and toeing the Party line, so reading straight political commentary on these platforms is a waste of time, right?

Wrong! In fact, analyzing the diversity of opinions that survive censorship provides valuable insight into what kind of political discussions the CCP can tolerate.

Arguably, there is even insight to be gained from reading posts by keyboard warriors: if netizens are rooting for Trump to win the presidency, what does that say about the CCP’s preference?

This article will cover commentary from Chinese academics, casual Weibo users, the botnet, and niche America-watchers — all of whom have their own takes on Trump’s conviction and the US legal system.

It’s about to get weird. Let’s dive in.

 我对美国司法的信心涨了 “My faith in the US judiciary has increased.” 
~ a user from Shandong 山东 province

Bread and Circuses — The Perspective of CCP Academics

Netizens and the academic commentariat are mostly united in saying that the trial was nothing but a witch hunt meant to bolster Biden’s reelection prospects.

Democratic principles like the rule of law, the narrative goes, are just a convenient way to serve powerful politicians. In other words, the only difference between the American and Chinese legal systems is that the CCP is honest about being above the law.

International politics professor Shen Yi 沈逸 explains this view in his article for the nationalist-adjacent news outlet Guancha 观察者网:

Judging from the judicial decisions against Trump and a series of related measures, it can be clearly seen that “Sleepy Joe” Biden, or rather the Democratic side, does not possess the ability or intention to bridge the division and differences among the American populace. Their priority remains political considerations and schemes driven by precise calculations, including resolutely carrying out a “siege” against Trump through judicial means. Regardless of how Trump’s fate ultimately develops, it is unequivocally leading the American political system toward greater divisiveness, further depletion, and even the erosion of the soft power that the United States has built.

From the perspective of American hegemony, this is not particularly good news — or rather, it is purely bad news: to forces around the world that dislike hegemony and believe it to be problematic, this certainly serves as strong proof of the current inadequacies of American capabilities. This issue of capability leads to what Francis Fukuyama refers to as the “overall decline of the hegemonic state.”

Ironic, no? You cannot normally get on the Chinese internet and shout “Kangaroo court!” when politicians are charged with crimes.

But there’s a special exception made for US election drama, which is touted as proof that the US is a failing society. Professor and CCP academic Qiao Xinsheng 乔新生 explains the importance of tuning in to watch the circus in an article published in April 2024: 

On the surface, American democratic elections are for seeking consensus, but in essence, they continuously fracture societal consensus and are a confrontation between different interest groups. This makes it understandable why US presidential elections lead to increasing societal division. The so-called American democracy ultimately becomes a profit-sharing agreement among vested interest groups.

Many scholars have profoundly analyzed the fierce struggles behind American democracy. However, as observed, neither the Republican nor the Democratic presidential candidates can solve the deep-rooted issues facing the development of American society. Almost without exception, they divert attention to achieve their political goals. Unfortunately, China becomes the “sacrificial lamb” of American democratic elections.

…

Precisely because of this, attention should be paid to the game between various forces during the US presidential election, and effective measures should be taken to prevent it before it happens.

Now, this narrative isn’t the universal response to the conviction, but understanding the Party line helps us distinguish between paid CCP shills and real human discussion.

Comment Section Comedians and Legal System Satire 法律讽刺

We’ll start with a grab bag of highlights from the comment sections of some viral news posts about the conviction.

There were some lighthearted jokes about how democracies are prone to drama:

Trump supporters: quickly take action and storm the Capitol! 

The institutional shortcomings of the United States 😎

Democratic countries have excellent systems /s

Weirdo country, he can be elected and then work from prison 😂

Then there were open calls to manipulate the precedent to benefit China. From Zhejiang 浙江 province:

 As long as a precedent is set, there will be something to play with later 🤩

A user from Beijing wrote,

I think the impact is that Trump’s personal desire to win the election has become stronger, because if he loses the election and cannot pardon himself, he may be persecuted past the point of no return. Trump’s words and deeds before the election are likely to become more extreme. 🤭

There was also a lot of anti-semitism. Here’s one example:

Their system of rule-of–law means that even the powerful, including the president, cannot stop political opponents from running for election.

Replies:

But can it stop the Jews? [Doge]

Their law is that Jews make the laws, and Jews are a community that is above the law!

A note on emojis: Weibo has its own emoticons that aren’t Unicode-supported. I’ve replaced them with close substitutes, except for the doge emoji, which has no equivalent and deserves some special explanation.

From left to right: Doge emojis on Douyin, WeChat, and Weibo. Source: Viola Zhou.

The doge emoji can represent sarcasm or irony. But in other cases, it is used to provide plausible deniability when a user expresses a controversial opinion. In Chinese, this strategy is called 狗头保命 (“dog emoji protects my life”) — but I personally would have named it Schrödinger’s doge. Here’s an academic paper with usage examples if you’re looking to jump down a rabbit hole.

Okay, back to Trump.

Rule of Law and China’s Trump Haters

While netizens and CCP academics leaned into MAGA talking points, some political commentary accounts spoke admirably about the guilty verdict.

This post comes from an account with 879,000 followers:

Justice Prevails, No One Escapes the Law, Criminal Trump Found Guilty on All 34 Counts!

…

Trump’s conviction will restore many people’s faith in humanity. The judge will sentence Trump on July 11.

Reviewing this trial, the prosecutor was quite formidable, choosing the legal provisions perfectly and presenting an extremely tight chain of evidence. Trump’s associates were all untrustworthy, and his lawyers were of poor quality. As for the sentencing? Given Trump’s poor attitude toward admitting guilt, it is estimated that the judge will impose a severe punishment. History once again proves the rigor of Anglo-Saxon law.

Accounts like this one work really hard to maintain tonal ambiguity — but still, detailed praise for the rule of law was not something I expected to see on Weibo. The comment section includes replies like this one from Zhejiang 浙江 province:

One look at Trump shows that he can be bought, and he might even sell out the country for his own personal gain. 😏

Another Trump-critical opinion comes from 菲姐聊政经, a political commentary account with 144,000 followers:

Trump’s conviction has led some people to see the “dark corruption” of American politics, while others see that America has truly realized “the law is equally applied to the prince and the commoner.”

After posting a few articles about Trump, I lost a few hundred followers. I didn’t realize I had so many Trump supporters following me. Just to reiterate, I am a Trump hater, so feel free to unfollow me to avoid me unfollowing you first ~

Furthermore, those 12 jurors couldn’t be controlled by anyone, reaching a unanimous decision.

I’m afraid that this accusation of “dark corruption” will require more evidence.

But MAGA-aligned accounts appear to be equally or more popular. This post comes from an account with 638,000 followers which posts exclusively about US politics: 

Today is the darkest day in the history of the American legal system. Trump will appeal, and justice will triumph over evil, as it always has in human history and will continue to do so in the future. I’m not alarmed, and I never have been!!

“Charging rival politicians with crimes is just a ruse to solidify the power of the current president” — is not something you can normally say on the Chinese internet.

‘Comrade Trump’ and a Potential Lifeline for TikTok

Netizens rooting for a Trump 2024 victory have a special title for their preferred candidate — “Comrade Trump, the Nation-Builder” 川建国同志. This title is used to imply that Trump’s ineptitude benefits China.

A top comment with 400+ likes:

Comrade Trump should not have to fight alone.

From Guangdong 广东:

Comrade Trump is being persecuted

From Shaanxi 陕西 province:

Protect our comrade, Trump the Nation-Builder [doge]

“怎么这么臭 ? ! ” Source

After Trump made a TikTok account to broadcast his feelings about the conviction, some users expressed hope that this would prevent TikTok from being banned.

A user from Jiangxi 江西 wrote,

It depends on how TikTok responds. If [TikTok] can be deeply tied to Comrade Trump, there is still a glimmer of hope. After all, Comrade Trump the Nation-Builder also needs a platform to fight against the Democratic Party [doge].

Another user from Hebei 河北 wrote,

TikTok is interfering with the US election after all.

A Bizarre Meme About South Korea

In the replies to every single one of these posts, someone made an analogy to South Korea, which has convicted three of its four former presidents. But the similarity and pervasiveness of all these comments was striking:

“South Korea be like: Our former presidents are all guilty [doge]” 

“I hope Trump comes to power and then puts Old Biden 老登 in jail, then it will become a political tradition in the future. They can learn from their grandson, South Korea, who sets a good example [doge]”

“The Americans are gradually becoming like South Korea”

“Very interesting, this is Koreanization.”

This user made their first post in April of 2024, which is featured in the screenshot below. I’m not going to translate it, but it involves calling Jews “parasites.”

Here’s another comment about Korea. This account, which first began posting in January of 2023, reposts tons of content about the superiority of BYD cars.

“The Koreanization of politics.”

What’s going on here? Coordinated posts, or just a bunch of passionate nationalists who coincidentally have groupthink about South Korea? It felt a little off…

For more on this theme, check out Jordan’s classic breakdown of a 2020 botnet.