Did Conservative Influencers Fall for a Chinese Communist Honey Trap?

Mar 03, 2025
Jeff Reynolds
National Security | Investigations

Democratic convert to MAGA has made the rounds on conservative media while raising serious concerns about her ties to the CCP.

A former Democratic congressional candidate and fundraiser for Kamala Harris has announced she left the party, throwing her weight behind the MAGA movement. Lindy Li claims President Trump appointed her to his inaugural fundraising committee in January, after she appeared on Fox News to denounce the Kamala Harris campaign. Conservative social media influencers have feted and elevated Li, giving her a platform to tell them the Democrats have gone crazy and she no longer wants any part of it. 

So far that’s a great story… yet there may be more to it than meets the eye. Now anti-communist activists have begun sounding the alarm about Li's connections to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)—and the more they dig, the deeper those connections go.

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Conservative Image Enhancement Tour

Lindy Li debuted in the conservative media ecosystem by appearing on "Fox and Friends Weekend" a few days after Election Day, telling Will Cain that her false hope in Kamala Harris led her to raise millions of dollars for the doomed campaign. "This is just an epic disaster. This is a one-billion-dollar disaster,” Li said. "It’s incredible, and I raised millions of that. I have friends that I have to be accountable to and to explain what happened because I told them it was a margin of error race."

Li expressed disgust that the campaign misled her and her donors into believing Harris had a chance. Not policy or radical ideology; Li’s revulsion revolved solely around the results of the election. She did spill the tea, as it were, regarding back-stabbing between Harris and President Biden, as well as in the upper echelons of the Democratic National Committee. 

Evidently, that was enough for some conservative influencers to think she would be another Tulsi Gabbard and jump ship, bringing ratings gold along with her.

Li’s next appearance came on the Shawn Ryan Show on Feb. 6, followed the next day by an appearance on the Benny Johnson Show. 

Shawn Ryan is a former Navy SEAL and CIA contractor whose long-form podcast has rocketed to popularity in fewer than 180 episodes. He has had political figures on, but he started as a military podcaster covering PTSD and veterans' issues. When Ryan interviewed Lindy Li, due to the size of the audience, it reverberated on the Right and the Left. Li opened Episode 167 by appearing forthright and motivated to explain the reasons for her frustration with the Biden-Harris administration, the campaign, and the DNC. Over the next hour and a half, she talked about the envelope of cocaine found in the White House; Biden's cognitive decline; and a host of other issues that played out in the media throughout 2024.

On Benny Johnson's show the next day, Li offered a very different presentation. She played for sympathy, saying that she had received legal cease and desist letters, and that rumors about her swirled on the internet. Li denied skeptics’ assertions that she was a grifter, instead informing Johnson how emotionally difficult her life had gotten since her appearance on Fox News. 

Li begins the podcast with an anecdote about how her evening run the previous day—to "clear her mind"—was interrupted by texts from a lawyer threatening her with legal action for appearing in the media. "It's the same lawyer that I once fought against who tried to kick me off the ballot exactly 10 years ago when I was running for Congress," she says at the 1:30 mark. She claims she suffered extreme anxiety and fear over speaking out, but then declares, "The only way out of this is through, right?"

Li then appeared on the Piers Morgan show on Feb. 17, and things began to unravel soon after.

"China Is Not the Enemy"

According to the bio on Shawn Ryan's website that accompanied her podcast appearance, Li moved to America from China when she was only five years old. She attended Princeton and worked as a financial analyst after graduation. Li then became a Democratic fundraiser, and served on the Asian American outreach team for Joe Biden's campaign in 2020. 

"Li has recently transitioned from her Democratic roots to align with conservative politics," the bio continues, "citing a toxic culture within her former party as one of many reasons for her departure. She has been vocal in criticising [sic] both President Biden and Vice President Harris, claiming that their leadership has stifled dissent within the party."

For someone who left China before kindergarten and became an American, Li has a lot to say about the nation of her birth. In a recent talk, Li made the provocative claims that "China is not the enemy," and "the defining relationship in the 21st century is a Sino-American one." She bemoans the "China-bashing" that happens every four years in the American presidential election cycle, saying candidates have to "rile up" their voters with "fearmongering."

Susie Moore, writing at RedState, relayed her own personal anecdotes about Lindy Li, including the overnight nature of her supposed conversion to Trumpism:

I came away from the initial interaction with a sense of "Wow, that was...interesting."

I looked her up on Twitter — sorry, X. Yep — full-on apparatchik. Lots of "Here I am with this high-profile Dem," and "I'm so stoked about our candidate!" and "I love this Dem so much!" 

When she wasn't slamming Trump or Vance, she was emphasizing her closeness to the Bidens and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff and Tim and Gwen Walz — she was on a cozy first-name basis with them, it seemed. Well, fair enough for a DNC committee member and donor-wrangler. No doubt she did rub elbows with the crew on multiple occasions. It's just that the way she kept highlighting it seemed...a little cloying. 

By late December, she was calling the Democratic Party "cult-like" and announcing her "rightward shift." In early January, she was calling out Biden's "epic failures" on the border. She characterized Biden's claim that he and/or Harris could have beaten Trump a joke. 

But it was her naming to Trump's inaugural fundraising committee that really raised my eyebrows. That's quite a transition! 

Li got herself booked on the Glenn Beck Show. She claimed she "didn't even speak Chinese."

Li then appeared on a panel on Piers Morgan Uncensored on Feb. 17. A couple of days later, Morgan posted a provocative question on X:

Solomon Yue, the CEO of Republicans Overseas, escaped from China in the 1980s and became an ardent conservative operative. The longtime former member of the Republican National Committee (RNC) broke it down on X:

Follow .@lindyli's timeline: on Oct 3, she tweeted she already voted for Harris and Philly said they received her ballot. On Oct 11 and 31, she praised former DNC Chairman .@harrisonjaime for great leadership to elect Harris. On Feb 17, 2025, she told .@piersmorgan that she didn't vote for Harris for President and only voted for Bob Casey. On Feb 18, Piers Morgan asked which is the truth - voted for Harris before Oct 3 or didn't vote for anyone for president. Who are her donors with Chinese surnames to the DNC, especially to Harris super PACs? Are those donors have businesses in #China? Could her donors list explain why she has a presidential “access junkie” reputation?

This post came after Li blocked Yue on X, for no apparent reason—they had had no prior interactions. Yue has gained a social media reputation for outing CCP infiltrators in the RNC, so perhaps Li proactively cut off his access. Other prominent conservatives of Chinese descent faced similar treatment from Li. 

One must ask why she would present as hostile to well-known conservatives who oppose the CCP regime, when she simultaneously wants the world to believe her sudden MAGA conversion. 

Li has frequently claimed her conservative conversion caused her to go from Kamala Harris fundraiser to President Trump's fundraising team for his Inauguration. That claim is in question, as some conservative activists state they've never seen her at any official inaugural events. 

Perhaps she's an "access junkie"—or perhaps something more sinister. One prominent account on X connected her directly with CCP operatives during her run for Congress: 

Yue had more questions on X regarding inconsistencies in Li's story:

Why would Lindy Li work her way all the way up into the donor class of the DNC—and then suddenly switch so she could have access to the upper echelons of the RNC? If she had a genuine change of heart, she never adequately explains it.

Lindy Li has active Substack and X accounts. After she faced questions about her loyalties that followed her conservative media appearances, she posted:

People attack and smear me for changing my mind

As John Maynard Keynes said: When the facts change, I change my mind. What do YOU do?

I didn’t sign up for Democrats’ gender hysteria and woke insanity

I didn’t sign up for open borders

I didn’t sign up for bloated government or blowing $2.5 billion of donor money on celebrities and mega-concerts

I’m out

Quoting the guy who invented the debunked Keynesian school of economics is an odd choice, but for a recent convert from leftism, she can be given a pass. But does her claim that woke leftism drove her out of the party stand up to scrutiny?

A search of the term "gender" in Li's X / Twitter account pulls up a history of interesting posts. Lindy-Li-United-State-of-Women.png

The United State of Women is a toxic leftist group dedicated to "gender justice," a project of Civic Nation. Civic Nation is a 501(c)(3) whose board of directors includes several alums from the Obama administration, including Valerie Jarrett. 
Lindy-Li-justice-defense.png

Lindy-Li-abortion-republican.png

Since January 2025, Li has hit the right talking points for the Right when it comes to escaping "woke insanity," but questions remain regarding the sincerity of her new-found beliefs.

She certainly didn't feel like joining the Trump team during the Summer of Love riots of 2020:Lindy-Li-obama.png

 Lindy-Li-ban-trump-twitter.png

He went from "orange POS" to saving us from the insanity of the Democrats. 

Li Fires Back

After the Piers Morgan appearance, Li once again played for sympathy and victimhood. She posted that the panelists "ganged up" on her while stating she switched sides to save her country.

She comes off as quite accomplished at using effective talking points. It should come naturally to her, after all those years as a political operative. In this post, she actually invokes God, says she was excommunicated from the DNC, lauds her own bravery, and claims she's repeatedly condemned the CCP. 

One user on X demonstrated that she didn't exactly condemn the CCP when she posted about accepting a check from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) in the midst of her own Chinese spy scandal.

Lindy Li Says What Conservatives Want to Hear

Li has continued to make the rounds on Fox News, Newsmax, and conservative new media. It's paying off, as she continues to garner attention for her conservative conversion. She recently appeared on Lara Trump's show to spill the DNC tea and talk about why Kamala Harris lost. Lara commended her for her bravery and said she's welcome in the Republican Party. 

But questions have continued to swirl around Li and her true motivations. She gets combative on social media with anyone who asks questions—or even if they don't ask questions. She blocks people without provocation and has threatened others with defamation lawsuits. 

And she has a troubling history of palling around with CCP operatives.

Li’s presentation comes off as polished, practiced, and professional—whether she uses conservative talking points or expresses anxiety about her victim status and the continued bravery she must convey. Maybe her conservative conversion is sincere, and maybe she truly has had the scales fall from her eyes. Or maybe it's just a little too perfect. 

Conservative thought leaders should exercise caution before giving her a platform to ingratiate herself into the larger right-of-center movement.

(READ MORE: Sabotaging National Security by Land, Air, Sea, and Cyberspace)

Jeff Reynolds is Senior Editor for Restoration News, specializing in energy and science policy, as well as dark money. Jeff is an author, editor, strategist, and public speaker. A prolific researcher and writer, he authored the book Behind the Curtain in 2019, which details the billionaires and foundations responsible for the radical left's ascension in American politics. Jeff graduated from Connecticut College with a bachelor's in Zoology. 

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