The Acid Test

President Trump and President Xi of China are now engaged in a hot trade war ... after, apparently, a cordial start at Mar-a-Largo soon after Trump was inaugurated and Xi was elevated to president for life. The back and forth escalation of tariffs and broken commitments is complicated ... so, if you need a reprise, please visit: US-China Tariff Timeline.

As seen in the above, China’s obvious strategy in defeating the United States in this trade war is to trump Trump in the 2020 election  ... hoping for a more pliant Democrat to replace him ... Biden, for instance, who it has already greased with a $1.5 billion “investment” in his son, Hunter’s “hedge fund.” Most people suspected this slow-walk strategy when the mutual trade talks leading to a tentative pact was abrogated by China this past May. This complicated deal had been arduously hammered out over the many previous months. And this slap was followed by a Chinese agricultural purchasing agreement that was also shortly reneged on.

Needless to say, this trade war is now getting hotter and the back-and-forth quicker. Trump has even just labeled Xi his “enemy” which seems appropriate ... given the duplicity China has engaged in since May. So, a thinking person has to conclude that no good will possibly come of this tariff pissing contest until after November, 2020. And this then is the acid test.

The American voter quite likely will be given a choice in the next general election ... overcome any distaste for Trump’s reality-TV personality and vote for him ... or vote for the Democrat and signal capitulation to China ... in this extremely consequential trade war ... so consequential that it might well mean the beginning of the end of American hegemony in the world. I realize that this all sounds melodramatic ... but this contrast and it’s consequence is bound to be drawn more sharply in the months ahead.

So, kind reader, study up.

Afterward: Me thinks that China is banking on a substantial portion of the American public voting to have us step back from center stage and let someone else take over ... after all we voted twice for the man who clearly had this as an objective ... and the world cheered ... they even gave him the Nobel Peace Prize ... his name of course: Barack Hussein Obama.

Deaf and Dumb

“Biden is not as smart as Bernie” — Donald Trump

Former Vice President Joe Biden shows once again why he is so tone deaf (and dumb) on foreign policy. (Or could it be because China gave $1 billion to his son Hunter’s hedge fund? See: The Federalist Story.)

Headlines

Beto masters the art of the tease

Tesla's head of global security is out after 11 months

Roger Stone: Trump may not run for reelection ...

Donald Trump warns of migrant 'grabbers' of children at the border

Foreign dark money is threatening  American democracy

Hedge-fund veteran who called recent rout says selling is just getting started

Paper: Manafort held secret talks with Assange ...

Wikileaks to sue [UK] Guardian over 'fabricated' Assange-Manafort meeting

DOJ urges justices not to delve into Whitaker [acting AG] appointment

34,000 people apply for student loan forgiveness, 26 have been approved

Republican wins Mississippi Senate runoff ...

Chuck Schumer hints at extra border wall funding

Provocateur

As someone who is worth about $23 billion and is hell bent on disrupting Western institutions and corrupting the country that has adopted him, he seems a strangely caustic citizen. He has supported with enormous funding mass migration of mostly Muslims into the Western world ... see: CNBC Article. He wants the U.S. federal government to control local police departments ... see: Breitbart Story. He has generously funded Occupy Wall Street (see: Human Events Article) and Black Lives Matter (see: Breitbart Article). He is often in the middle of urban unrest situations ... see: Breitbart Article. He is buying politicians ...  see: Yahoo News Story and expects them to do his bidding ... see: The American Mirror Story. And he has many other against-the-grain causes over which he sprinkles his peresuasive pelf.

This naturalized citizen being referred to is none other than George Soros (née, Gyorgy Schwartz in Hungary in 1930). He has made his money in currency trading and with a hedge fund ... and so he knows what levers to pull to get things done ... however insidious the consequences. For more on his special causes and checkered life, see: Wikipedia Entry

Why is he such a dangerous provocateur? Does he hold some kind of secret grievance or grudge against civilized society? Perhaps he is just feeling his Wheaties and wants to show the world how powerful he has become with all his pieces of silver? Maybe he is playing out some villainous role in his imagined James Bond movie? Is he merely a misanthrope (he has been married three times)? Or perhaps he is just an evil asshole? But whatever his real motivations, he is almost as powerful as El Chapo was before his recapture. (I am not suggesting offings, but who knows?) The problem is ... not only are governments not trying to rein him in ... they are often abetting his monstrous mischief.