Quote (IceMage @ Jan 19 2021 02:24pm)
I think it shows how America alone pursuing a policy without our allies is fruitless and counter-productive. A smart populist would bring allies together in order to enact consequences on China. That's not in Trump's DNA... he has to pursue an endless list of grievances with our allies while trying to be tough on China.
I suppose right-wing populists can claim, like the socialists do, that "true" populism hasn't been tried yet. But I don't recall them objecting to Trump's moves in the moment.
It shows rather that Trump is transactional and not strategic. He does not care about America's overarching strategic interests insofar as how they intersect with China and the Pacific, he wants to rectify their malfeasance on trade, which is what he campaigned on.
Not a great approach, and if he were a smarter man he would have continued on with the TPP and explained it away as negotiation, but it was certainly a move in the right direction after decades of Republicans and Democrats chasing dollars in China with the pretense that China was going to "come around", stop committing genocide, give up its regional ambitions, and adopt Western values. It's sort of insulting to the Chinese; they have an ancient civilization and there's a hubris that goes along with that.
Guests cannot view or vote in polls. Please register or login.