For all the pathetic bravado handshakes and the rude confused rambling, Trump will be in Beijing as a supplicant seeking China’s help.
Some presidential moments record history succinctly: Ronald Reagan in Berlin declaring, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall” at the end of the Cold War; George W. Bush beneath the “Mission Accomplished” banner aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and the strategic debacle of the War on Terror; and Barack Obama announcing America’s “pivot to Asia,” and U.S. concerns regarding an emergent China.
When Trump visits Beijing, we’ll have another such moment: The end of the American empire.
Trump will be himself. Awkward, confused but dozily confident, no sense of diplomatic protocol, but ready to sell real estate or seek graft to enrich himself and his family. He comes to Beijing with an abysmal economic record and a Seoul Sunday morning spew of confused tariff and trade deals.
For all the pathetic bravado handshakes and the rude confused rambling, he will be in Beijing as a supplicant seeking China’s help—a position no American president has previously occupied...
Read more at https://junotane.com