PBS's Christiane Amanpour welcomed Republican Indiana Senator Todd Young onto her late Monday night program to discuss if Republicans can credibly condemn the Chinese Communist Party on democracy and human rights while also censuring Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. Young called out the absurdity and offensiveness of the comparison, forcing Amanpour to concede the two cannot be analogized.
After Young warned of the deepening relationship between Russia and China, Amanpour tried to turn the conversation to Republicans:
Let me see if I can maybe step into their shoes or into some shoes from abroad watching the United States. They watch and they say, “hold on a second, America's preaching democracy to us, but yet, you know, treating democracy rather cavalierly.” To point, on Friday, when the Republican National Committee decided to censure two Republicans, as you know better than I do, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, both Republican members of the January 6th investigation committee. And they said they were doing that for participating in the, 'persecution of ordinary citizens engaged legitimate political discourse.' So I wonder whether you agree that storming the Capitol, an insurrection there, people who have been charged, some of them with seditious, you know, intent, et cetera, are engaged in legitimate political discourse?
Young shot back: "Well, I think there can be no moral equivalency between the forced abortion of, of women and babies, between the, the repression and, and, you know, confinement of Uyghur Muslims, between the, the suppression of all civil rights in Hong Kong, on one hand, and some of the problems we’ve had here in the United States more recently."
The Senator also stated that those who break the law should be punished. He then warned against buying into false moral equivalency propaganda being pushed by likes of Russia's Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jingping: "We mustn't self-flagellate at every moment that we're criticizing repressive foreign regimes."
In response, Amanpour did back of her initial response but still wouldn't let go of the RNC's censure resolution:
Senator, of course, of course, you're absolutely right. There is no moral equivalency with what's happening in those gulags. However, as an American who is the world's global democracy leader and missionary, if you like, if I can use that term in, in the best way, do you consider storming the U.S. Capitol, the seat of America's democracy, its Constitution, its, its system, to be legitimate political discourse?
Young answered by repeating himself: "I don't know any American that regards that as legitimate political discourse...But let us not fall into the mistake that Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping want us to fall into. They want us to self-flagellate at this moment of, of, you know, fractious debate in the United States. We mustn't."
Of course, Young is correct. Xi is waging genocide, Putin is threatening to invade Ukraine for daring to insist it is an independent country, a toothless censure resolution is not even close to being on the same level as those things.
This segment was sponsored by viewers like you.
Here is a transcript for the February 7 show:
PBS Amanpour and Company
2/8/2022
12:36 AM ET
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: So look, let me see if I can maybe step into their shoes or into some shoes from abroad watching the United States. They watch and they say, “hold on a second, America's preaching democracy to us, but yet, you know, treating democracy rather cavalierly.” To point, on Friday, when the Republican National Committee decided to censure two Republicans, as you know better than I do, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, both Republican members of the January 6th investigation committee. And they said they were doing that for participating in the, “persecution of ordinary citizens engaged legitimate political discourse.” So I wonder whether you agree that storming The Capitol, an insurrection there, people who have been charged, some of them with seditious, you know, intent, et cetera, are engaged in legitimate political discourse?
SEN. TODD YOUNG [R-IN]: Well, I think there can be no moral equivalency between the forced abortion of, of women and babies, between the, the repression and, and, you know, confinement of Uyghur Muslims, between the, the suppression of all civil rights in Hong Kong, on one hand, and some of the problems we’ve had here in the United States more recently. So, you know, I’ve been quite vocal about those who broke the law on January 6. They should be held to account, just as anyone should that breaks the law. But to try and create some equivalency here, which I know you're not doing, but I know Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping have attempted to do, is absolutely absurd. And most of the world understands that. We mustn't self-flagellate at every moment that we're criticizing repressive foreign regimes. And that's what’s, is important to highlight at this point. That's why I begun this social media campaign to draw attention to these human rights violations, #BeijingBehavingBadly. And we received a lot of positive feedback about this campaign.
AMANPOUR: Senator, of course, of course, you're absolutely right. There is no moral equivalency with what's happening in those gulags. However, as an American who is the world's global democracy leader and missionary, if you like, if I can use that term in, in the best way, do you consider storming the U.S. Capitol, the seat of America's democracy, its Constitution, its, its system, to be legitimate political discourse?
YOUNG: I don't know any American that regards that as legitimate political discourse. I certainly haven't encountered them here in the state of Indiana. That is a fringe group. We, we must make absolutely clear that, that is a fringe group. But let us not fall into the mistake that Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping want us to fall into. They want us to self-flagellate at this moment of, of, you know, fractious debate in the United States. We mustn't. We mustn't take our eye off the ball. And, and we must remind ourselves what really gross human rights violators look like. And that's why I have begun this social media campaign, so that the Chinese Communist Party and other dictators like Xi Jinping cannot use this opportunity to normalize their behavior. This mustn't be a weeks-long infomercial for the CCP and its repressive value system.
