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.