Imagine a world where America's complex challenges — from opioid addiction to job losses — could be solved by building a few factories and pointing an accusatory finger at China.

This is the deceptively simple vision that Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), Republican vice presidential nominee and voice of the heartland, is selling to an anxious nation. But in an era where tweets can move markets and sound bites can shape foreign policy, Vance's reductive rhetoric isn't just misguided — it's a dangerous example of populist scapegoating.

Describing Ohio as a place "forgotten by America's ruling class in Washington," Vance paints a picture of a state ravaged by unemployment and drugs, all traceable to the actions of "establishment politicians" and China.

His narrative is compelling in its simplicity: America was "flooded with cheap Chinese goods, with cheap foreign labor and, in the decades to come, deadly Chinese fentanyl."

It's a story tailor-made for our polarized times, offering a clear villain and a straightforward solution. But like most simple answers to complex problems, it crumbles under scrutiny.

Take the fentanyl crisis, a tragedy that has torn through communities across America. While Chinese-sourced chemicals have indeed fueled this epidemic, its roots lie deep in domestic soil — in our fragmented healthcare system and economic despair and the over-prescription of opioids by American doctors.

Despite recent improvements in U.S.-China counternarcotics cooperation, overdose deaths remain at crisis levels. This grim reality points to........

© The Hill