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This satirical Chinese account live-tweeted the GOP debate, and it was amazing

Zack Beauchamp
Zack Beauchamp is a senior correspondent at Vox, where he covers ideology and challenges to democracy, both at home and abroad. His book on democracy, The Reactionary Spirit, was published 0n July 16. You can purchase it here.

Thursday night, Fox Business hosted a Republican debate. During the debate, many people thought they had funny things to say about it on Twitter.

But few of them could match the running live-tweeting from an account called the Relevant Organs. It is a parody account — stay with me here — written from the point of view of satirized Chinese Communist Party officials. It’s long been popular among China watchers and China-based journalists for its sendups of Chinese officialdom. But after a long hiatus, the account came back to bless us with a running commentary on the GOP debate:

By taking the point of view of a befuddled Chinese bureaucrat, the account helps make it clear how little sense Thursday’s debate might make to people who aren’t super-familiar with American politics:

It also highlights the ridiculous tone of some of the foreign policy conversations that happened last night:

But most importantly, it’s pretty funny, especially if you’re familiar with Chinese propaganda and history:

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