Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Hoover County) believes many of his Democratic colleagues are more focused on hurting former President Donald Trump than addressing real national security threats.

Palmer began his remarks at a Congressional Oversight and Accountability Hearing on China on Wednesday by suggesting that some Democrats at the hearing were focusing too much on President Trump and not on the Chinese Communist Party.

“Is this a hearing about China or is this a hearing about Donald Trump?” Palmer asked.

“This is a hearing on China, and I gave my colleagues the Trump Derangement Syndrome number,” Rep. James Comer (R-KY), chairman of the Oversight Committee, said in response to Palmer's question. “They haven't had the lesson yet, but this is a very important issue about China and the failure of the administration's response to the CTP threat.”

Palmer then explained why China is such a danger to US national security.

“China is a serious enough threat that I think we need to focus on China,” he said. “I will urge my colleagues to do the same. I have watched as China has become a dominant influence, at least economically, through debt diplomacy, and in our backyard in the Western Hemisphere, and we have done very little to address it.”

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The lawmakers concluded that Congress needs to “wake up” to the real threat from our enemies.

“I think we need to take a long, hard look at what's going on in our own hemisphere,” he said. “And this is something I'm working on as the Western Hemisphere Alliance, because contrary to what some of my colleagues think on other issues, China is an existential threat. And I think companies are starting to realize that. And we also need to wake up to the fact that the rest of the world needs our engagement and we need to engage smartly on this issue. Thank you to all of the panelists here.”

By turning a blind eye to China's rise in the Western Hemisphere, we have put America in a dangerous position.

By not addressing their growing presence, we have allowed China to gain significant economic influence in our own backyard. pic.twitter.com/KV1VtBb15f

— Gary Palmer (@USRepGaryPalmer) June 26, 2024

Yaffe is a contributing writer for Yellow Hammer News and hosts “The Yaffe Program” weekdays from 9-11 a.m. WhistlerYou can follow him on X @Yaffe