ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes political discourse from the 2012 U.S. presidential campaign including speeches, debates, and televised ads. I assert both President Obama and Governor Mitt Romney advocated for the economic suppression of the Chinese red peril in similar ways–by rhetorically fusing the yellow peril memory frames of China as an economic and moral threat with anti-communist sentiment. Romney used highly charged war imagery to cast the United States and China as enemies in a fierce trade war. In order to support his call to label China a currency manipulator, he described the nation as a ruthless, immoral adversary. In contrast, President Obama cast the United States and China as economic competitors through his use of a game metaphor. The president depicted the United States as being committed to fair play and China as a habitual cheater. Far from challenging Romney’s characterization of China as an economic adversary, President Obama affirmed this view.
