Wednesday, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) defended calling the coronavirus the “Chinese Virus,” by arguing that China “is to blame” because they “eat bats and snakes and dogs.”
Answering The Hill’s question about people calling the coronavirus the “Chinese Virus,” Cornyn said, “That’s where it came from.”
The reporter asked, “Is it helpful because it alienates people? Like there is someone to blame. Like there is a group of people to blame.”
The Texas Republican U.S. Senator answered, “I think China is to blame because the culture where people eat bats and snakes and dogs and things like that, these viruses are transmitted from the animal to the people, and that’s why China has been the source of a lot of these viruses like SARS, like MERS, the Swine Flu, and now the coronavirus. So I think they have a fundamental problem, and I don’t object to geographically identifying where it’s coming from.”
The reporter said, “Then it’s directed to Asian Americans. Then Asian Americans are feeling like it’s a racist thing.”
Cornyn replied, “Oh, I disagree. We’re not talking about Asians. We’re talking about China where these viruses emanate from and which have created this pandemic.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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