Crow. It’s what’s for dinner. 

Over the past few years, Republicans — including Donald Trump —have circled the wagons in an effort to thwart what the party framed as an existential crisis: Chinese land ownership in the United States. 

Laws passed in Texas and Florida explicitly banning the sale of some lands — particularly farmland — to Chinese investors have underscored the xenophobic tinge to the MAGA movement’s efforts to parlay their espoused national security concerns into a major political issue. 

And with that in mind, Trump made things quite awkward for the MAGA faithful on Thursday when — during his excursion to China, which seems to have netted next-to-nothing in concessions — he defended Chinese farm ownership in the United States. Trump made his comments to Fox News host Sean Hannity, and even repeated his previous claim that Chinese students should be allowed to study in the United States. As my colleague Steve Benen explained last August when Trump made the claim, this assertion flies in the face of the Trump administration’s move tostrip visas from Chinese students, as well as MAGA rhetoric from folks like Vice President JD Vance condemning foreign students studying at American universities. 

The post below shows a clip of Trump condemning Chinese land ownership during the 2024 campaign and vowing to thwart it, followed by a clip of Trump telling Hannity this ownership is essential to U.S. farming. 

Ja’han Jones

Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.