Washington: Donald Trump returned to the GOP political scene Saturday with a speech at the North Carolina Republican Convention, where he called on China to pay “reparations” to the U.S. for coronavirus–related damages.
“All nations should work together to present China a bill for a minimum of $10 trillion to compensate for the damage,” Trump said, adding that the figure was lower than it should be. “As a first step, all countries should collectively cancel any debt they owe to China as a down payment on reparations,” he said.
Trump said he also thought the U.S. should put a 100% tariff on any goods imported from China.
In a lengthy speech Saturday night, the former president echoed sentiments from Republicans on the Hill and went after infectious disease specialist Anthony Fauci for reversing his stance on the importance of wearing masks early in the pandemic.
“Fauci said powerfully at the beginning, no masks,” Trump chided Saturday. “Then he became a radical masker,” he said, adding that “he’s been wrong on almost every issue.”
Trump also reiterated unproven claims regarding the integrity of the 2020 election – comments that resulted in his two-year ban from Facebook.
The former president claimed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg “broke the law spending millions of dollars” on encouraging voting in Democratic-led areas in the country.
