GOP Senator Dragged Over 'Blatantly Racist' Anti-China Campaign Ad Where She Smashes Fortune Cookies

Tennessee Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn was called out after releasing a campaign ad about cracking down on China by dramatically crumbling fortune cookies, a move that prompted critics to point out that fortune cookies aren't a Chinese invention at all.

In the ad, Blackburn appears seated in what resembles a stereotypical Chinese restaurant, surrounded by takeout boxes and hanging lanterns. Looking directly into the camera, she asks, "How hard am I gonna crack down on China? Well, here's a clue," before crushing several fortune cookies in her hands and letting the crumbs fall onto the table as a narrator begins to speak.

The narrator says:

“Marsha Blackburn worked with President [Donald] Trump to take on Communist China. As governor, Marsha will fight to protect Tennessee land from Chinese front companies, close loopholes, and hunt down every Communist who tries to defy us.”

Blackburn then continues:

“It doesn’t take a fortune cookie to figure it out. Here in Tennessee, we’re gonna stop Communist China and protect Tennessee land.”

The ad concludes with the sound of a gong and an image of a maneki-neko—the Japanese "beckoning cat" figurine that is often seen in Chinese restaurants and Chinatowns despite its Japanese origins.

Blackburn shared the video on X with the following caption:

"It doesn’t take a fortune cookie to figure it out… As your governor, I’ll continue to work with President Trump to STOP Communist China and PROTECT Tennessee land."

You can see it below.

But social media users were quick to point out that fortune cookies aren't a Chinese invention.

Although fortune cookies have long been associated with Chinese restaurants in the United States, they are widely believed to have originated in California rather than China. While their precise origins remain disputed, many historians credit Japanese immigrant Makoto Hagiwara with popularizing the modern fortune cookie at San Francisco's Japanese Tea Garden in the early 1900s.

A competing claim from a Chinese American baker in Los Angeles has endured for decades, but a symbolic 1983 "Court of Historical Review" in San Francisco ultimately sided with Hagiwara.

The backlash was swift.

Blackburn's post closely mirrors a broader Republican messaging strategy, coming as President Donald Trump has dramatically intensified his warnings about the alleged threat of communism in recent weeks.

A Reuters analysis found that Trump's political team is testing whether the message can appeal beyond his core supporters ahead of November's midterm elections. According to the analysis, Trump's rhetoric accelerated after June 23, when several progressive Democratic candidates won primary elections in New York.

Since then, he has invoked communism 81 times in speeches and social media posts, at one point labeling some of the victorious candidates "hardcore, godless communists."

During his July Fourth address commemorating the nation's semiquicentennial, Trump likened communism to a cancer that must be removed, telling supporters gathered on the National Mall, "You've got to cut it out, and you've got to cut it out fast."

Blackburn's ignorant post is very on brand, all things considered.