A tough-on-China GOP is split on whether to boycott the China Olympics

A boycott would be “a serious mistake,” potential 2024 contender Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said in a brief interview with POLITICO, citing what he described as former President Jimmy Carter’s “blunder” in boycotting the 1980 Olympics hosted by the Soviet Union. “I don’t think we should be punishing athletes who have spent their entire lives training. We should go to Beijing, compete, and win.”…

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) — one of the most hawkish GOP voices on China — has signed on to a resolution championed by his fellow Florida GOP Sen. Rick Scott, which calls for the Winter Games to be taken away from China. But Rubio wasn’t willing to push for a boycott just yet.

“It’s a tough call,” he said in a brief interview. “I haven’t really made a decision on it. Because I feel bad for the athletes. I mean, ultimately they’re the ones that pay the price.… I mean, the ideal is you would find an alternative site to be able to host it. But that’s pretty tough to pull off.”…

“We must boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics in China,” former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley wrote on Twitter. “It would be a terrible loss for our athletes, but that must be weighed against the genocide occurring in China and the prospect that empowering China will lead to even greater horrors down the road.”