This time it was China. It won’t help you!

[GoodTaste]

I don't understand the expression "This time it was China. It won’t help you!" It sounds either to be "This time America was like China. It won’t help you!" (it is odd) or "This time the key issue we American People face was China. China won’t help you! (the tense of "face" and the tense of "was" are not consistent).

What does it mean?

==================
Donald J. Trump tweeted 8:00 AM · Jun 18, 2020
@realDonaldTrump
Joe Biden was a TOTAL FAILURE in Government. He “bungled” everything that he touched!



Republicans for Joe Biden
@RepsForBiden
Replying to
@realDonaldTrump
So you asked a tired country to help you get re-elected? This time it was China. It won’t help you! The American people are fed up with you! #TraitorTrump
8:02 AM · Jun 18, 2020·Twitter for iPhone

 

[Phaedrus]

So you asked a tired country to help you get re-elected? This time it was China. It won’t help you!

In each case the "it" seems situational. I read the first "it" as beginning an elliptical cleft sentence:

This time it was China (that was the tired country that you asked to help you get re-elected).

The second "it" may, I think, be interpreted as an expletive standing for an omitted extraposed "that"-clause:

It won't help you that this time it was China that you asked to help you get re-elected.

i.e.: That this time it was China that you asked to help you get re-elected won't help you.

 

[GoodTaste]

It is odd that Trump asked China to help him to get re-elected because he vowed to sever ties with China to save 500 billion US dollars.

 

[GoesStation]

The second "it" may, I think, be interpreted as an expletive standing for an omitted extraposed "that"-clause ….

Those are undoubtedly the exact words that went through the Presidential mind as he was composing his tweet.

 

[GoodTaste]

It is odd that Trump asked China to help him to get re-elected because he vowed to sever ties with China to save 500 billion US dollars.

The New York Times tweeted 9 hours ago:

A memoir from John Bolton, the former national security adviser, has a striking accusation that President Trump overtly linked trade negotiations with China to his own re-election prospects. Trump, Bolton writes, was “pleading with Xi to ensure he’d win.”

 

[GoesStation]

GoodTaste, this forum is intended for questions about English. It's fine to ask about the English used in politically-oriented texts, but please avoid shifting from that into discussing the political questions themselves.

 

[GoodTaste]

GoodTaste, this forum is intended for questions about English. It's fine to ask about the English used in politically-oriented texts, but please avoid shifting from that into discussing the political questions themselves.

A little extending would help clarify the situation around the question of language. The main topic which we here should stick to, of course, is liguistic anyways.

 

[emsr2d2]

A little [STRIKE]extending[/STRIKE] elaboration would help clarify the situation around the question of language. The main topic [strike]which[/strike] [that] we [STRIKE]here[/STRIKE] should stick to here is, of course, [STRIKE]is[/STRIKE] linguistics. [STRIKE]anyways.[/STRIKE]

Please see my changes above.