Obvious hyperbole, but his general point is valid.



Also, it's an open secret that Tom Cotton will run in 2024, so he's trying to position himself accordingly. Fun fact: Democratic strategists are already discussing how to prop up Cotton, since it's clear that his appeal would be limited to hardcore evangelicals and trumpists. If they could choose a Republican standard bearer that they think they can beat the easiest, it's him.

biden this
biden that
biden to the right
biden to the left
biden in the middle and biden all about

no

TRUMP REIGNS ETERNALLY

I think America is better able to confront China when we work with our allies... so a Biden administration will be much better on that front. If unthinking hostility is what you want, it's true, Trump is better.

Cotton has no charisma. The problem with Rubio/Cotton/Hawley trying to perform the right-wing populist shtick is that's not the main reason Trump got elected.

Yeah, Trump is a tremendous showman and public performer, and without his charisma, his "formula" cannot be replicated 1:1. On the other hand, similar political forces have seen success all across the developed world over the last 10-20 years, so I dont think that so-called "right-wing populism" will go away, it doesnt stand and fall with Trump.

The decisive factor imho will be if Biden's administration is able to lower the temperature altogether, or if he will continue to (perhaps inadvertently) antagonize the right-most ~30-40% of the electorate the way Obama and Clinton did.


Regarding China: the correct approach imho is to build strong alliances against China. Tough on China, accommodating toward our allies, that's how it's done. Trump's mistake was that he tried to be tough on both and alienated important allies this way. My fear with Biden is that he might not be tough enough on China itself, although he surely will do a better job fostering international alliances. But that's all idle speculation at this point, we'll have to wait and see. Biden deserves a fair chance.

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Nov 25 2020 06:22am

What do you think Biden is going to do that he failed to do last time?

China is a unilateral actor that pressures other countries into complying with carrot and stick. They have a lot of economic leverage, and they are more than willing to use that leverage against smaller economies, including European economies, that don't fall into line. The United States must be able to take strong, unilateral action and pressure other countries that have no real vested interest in resisting Chinese influence.

Are we pretending that Vice Presidents have a bunch of power?

The structure of the relationship is different now... anyone who becomes president is going to have to be tougher on China. I hope Biden can utilize our alliances to counter them... militarily and economically. Biden won't waste time on costly trade wars and attacking our allies for necessary military aid and economic relationships.

The big failure of Trump's diplomacy was his handling of America's allies, not that of its enemies. If you want countries to align themselves with the U.S. because China is purportedly this big bad bully, you cannot treat them like a big bad bully yourself. Strong, sustainable alliances must be based on common interests and respect rather than fear and pressure.

Additionally, it is completely unrealistic to assume that we will ever be able to get China's neighbors to fully position themselves against China, that we will get them to fully turn on the dragon next door who has the power to crush them. Equidistance between the U.S. and China is the best we can ever hope for when it comes to countries like Vietnam, Russia or Indonesia. And the US cant hope for countries like South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, Australia or India to go all in on an US-led anti-China alliance as long as the US are unrealiable and threaten to abandon their allies on a whim the way Trump did.

The one area where I have to give Trump credit because he did make progress is India, which is the key chess piece in any China containment strategy.

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Nov 26 2020 01:23am

They are big bad bullies... Watch all this unfold the next 30 days or so...

S Korea is on board with Trump and managing their own COVID19 response as well... Not even following CDC or WHO...

Go check out a local hospital. Lmk if it's really full of covid19 patients lol.

Also china is straight up committing genocide to built the ONE BELT ONE ROAD project... Fuck China

This post was edited by Jere on Nov 26 2020 01:31am

Of course the Chinese are big bad bullies. Doesnt change the fact that it's an inefficient strategy to make these countries choose between two bullies instead of offering them a clearly superior alternative. Keep in mind that geographic realities and trade relationships mean that it takes a really big incentive to get China's neighbors to decouple themselves from the economic powerhouse next door. Placating China is the default option for those countries, it isnt trivial to make them to opt for something different.

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Nov 26 2020 01:55am