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New reporting from Raw Story exposes even more hypocrisy from Rob Bresnahan, who was caught peddling made-in-China merchandise at a recent event – while campaigning on an anti-China platform.
Bresnahan’s merchandising choice shows that his pro-America message is “self serving,” “hypocritical,” and “just to score political points.”
Given his history of selling out to corporate special interests and dark money donors, Bresnahan’s fake concern for working class Northeastern Pennsylvanians is no surprise. Bresnahan celebrated the support of AFP Action, a Koch Brothers-backed group that has worked to outsource American manufacturing jobs — even calling the organization “principled.”
DCCC Spokesperson Aidan Johnson:
“Rob Bresnahan was caught selling out to the Chinese Communist Party to make a quick buck. If he can’t stand by his own campaign proclamation that things should be ‘Made in America,’ then he definitely won’t be willing to stand up for Northeastern Pennsylvania when his Wall Street donors come knocking looking to strip this region for parts.”
Raw Story: ‘Hypocritical’: Anti-China GOP congressional candidate caught wearing made-in-China merch
Alexandria Jacobson | June 20, 2024
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Donald Trump–endorsed Republican congressional candidate Rob Bresnahan Jr., running in one of the nation’s most hotly contested U.S. House races, has a decidedly anti-China message for Pennsylvania voters he’s hoping to win over.
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But a campaign jacket that Bresnahan has worn at numerous campaign appearances was made in China, according to a Raw Story source who requested anonymity to protect their job.
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The source, who won the campaign jacket at a Bresnahan campaign event raffle, shared a photo of the jacket, the label of which indicates it was made in China.
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The jacket tag indicates that it is a product of Port Authority, a brand that manufactures products in countries such as China, Vietnam and Bangladesh, according to online retailer Full Source. Port Authority is owned by SanMar, a clothing company headquartered in Wisconsin, whose “supply chain partners” include at least 20 firms in China, according to its website.
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Bresnahan is challenging six-term Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA) for Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District.
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Derek Rockey, a spokesperson for the Rob for PA campaign committee, would not confirm where Bresnahan purchased the jacket that he wore to meet with local policymakers and government officials, constituents, Republican Party peers and at local business and community events.
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Bresnahan has raised more than $1.4 million this election cycle through April, where Cartwright has raised nearly $4 million in the same time period, according to the Federal Election Commission.
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Irina Tsukerman, a foreign policy expert, human rights and national security lawyer and president of communications advisory company, Scarab Rising, said Bresnahan’s merchandising choice raises the question of “optics.”
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“If you claim that you’re vigilant against a country’s human rights [atrocities], the threat to the United States’ national security and economic interests, that you are opposed to China flooding U.S. markets with cheap goods in violation of principles of free trade … it’s kind of self serving and hypocritical, even if it’s inadvertent, to utilize merchandise made in that country, particularly for your political campaign purposes,” Tsukerman said.
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But optics aren’t the only potential problem with making a merchandise choice contradictory to foreign policy statements, Tsukerman said. Such actions can send a message to China that U.S. politicians aren’t serious about their threats to back away from the country, she said.
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“You are encouraging your constituents to do one thing, and while you’re doing something entirely different,” Tsukerman said. “It shows that you don’t actually care about your message, that you’re doing that just to score political points, and you’re making a populist message, but you are not necessarily as concerned about the national security and economic implications, as you say.”
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China’s human rights concerns range from slave labor to suppression of religious freedom, Tsukerman said.
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“There is a big problem that now a couple of U.S. political candidates claim to be positioning themselves as tough on China but themselves are not observing their own proposed rules,” Tsukerman continued.
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