Trump Is Right on the China Threat

Townhall.com ^ | August 28, 2019 | Ben Shapiro

[Kaslin]

President Trump's latest foray into the world of international economics -- his ongoing trade war with China -- has been widely derided by his critics. It's been derided on the grounds that there is no long-term strategy; on the grounds that the trade war will not be, as Trump has bragged, "good and easy to win"; on the grounds that Trump continues to send mixed signals, simultaneously claiming that China is bearing the brunt of his tariffs while desperately urging Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to lower interest rates.

Now, Trump's trade policy may not be well-considered. His understanding of trade is rudimentary at best -- he still operates under the assumption that mutually beneficial trade is actually a zero-sum game. And Trump's rhetoric may be confusing -- it's unclear whether Trump wants tariffs or wants to alleviate them. But Trump does have one thing absolutely right: China is an imperturbable geopolitical foe. And the United States ought to be taking a serious look at a long-term strategy to contain and then reverse the dominance of the totalitarian communist regime.

Trump is the only president of recent vintage to understand this simple truth. The Chinese regime is strengthening its totalitarianism; market forces have not opened up China's politics. China's attempts to strengthen its grip on Hong Kong, its forays into the complexities of Indian-Pakistani politics, its threats of sanctions against American firms over the sale of jets to Taiwan -- all of this bespeaks the intent of the Xi Jinping regime, which has a philosophy of political revanchism. The supposed moderation of Dengism -- the political philosophy of Deng Xiaoping, which supposedly prized pragmatism over doctrinal adherence to Marxist tenets -- is being quickly reversed, with China's economy placed at the mercy of political leadership. Dengism was always treated with too much optimism by the West: The same regime supposedly pushing for detente with the West stole hundreds of billions in intellectual property every year for years while continuing to build up its military. Still, Xi has moved away from even tepid moves toward openness.

Two significant projects in recent years demonstrate the scale of China's ambitions. First, there's the so-called Belt and Road Initiative, in which China has helped subsidize building infrastructure in a bevy of countries throughout the world. Up to 68 countries are already taking part. The project is designed to place these countries in hock to the Chinese government; it's also designed to maximize China's naval power in the region.

Then there is China's heavy focus on government-subsidized building of 5G, using Huawei as the tip of the spear. China is offering 5G technology to developing countries at discounted prices, and those countries, hungry for the technology, have been accepting, likely at the cost of their own privacy and security. The goal, as always: maximization of China's sphere of influence.

Free trade isn't going to cure this. China's government has been willing to utilize mercantilism to prop up its global ambitions. Capitalism hasn't opened China's politics. Free trade has indeed benefitted China's citizens, bringing hundreds of millions out of poverty, but the Chinese government has responded with more repression, not less. All of which means that the United States must be pursuing a thorough strategy of opposition to China's ambitions.

Trump seems to understand this. But if he fails to articulate that to the American people, his economic war with China will fail. That's because if the American people are asked to shoulder an economic burden without being informed as to the rationale or the cost, they will rightly buck. Trump hasn't explained that the burden exists, let alone why the American people should shoulder it.

With that said, at least Trump recognizes the threat China represents. The chattering class has, for far too long, ignored that threat, to the detriment of the United States and her allies.

[jonose]

Trump has explained his economic policy. It is working.
China owns the press and Democrats and they are fighting for China.

One Case in point is climate change. The press and dems castigate Trump and not a word about China, the worst of the worst polluters.

[Kaslin]

They are indeed the worst polluters, which the media totally ignores.

[RoosterRedux]

Trump is almost always right on almost every issue. I suggest this is because he is a "simple, basic" man and that is because being a good businessman requires one to be "simple, basic."

In other words, business success requires clear, rational thinking and logic with a focus on what works and what will achieve the desired goal. Fanciful thinking, twisted logic, pandering to groups favored by identity politics will never work when a goal is grounded in good, old fashioned reality.

What is astonishing is not that Trump has this quality, but that so many folks in America DO NOT.

This is a monumental commentary on just how silly the human race has become...almost entirely because of Leftist politics.

Despite all the Left's reinvention of reality to suit its goal of domination at all costs, men are still just men, women are still women, little boys are boys, and girls, girls.

And "political correct" is still just bullshit.

[poconopundit]

That's right, Ben.  Be a loyal globalist puppet like Rat Romney.  Lend an ear to your puppet masters at Golden Sacks, Soros, and the Koch Brother. 

Feed the GEICO gekko on your shoulder with crony government favors, then help yourself to the all-you-can-eat Buffet.  And continue to time your criticisms of President Trump so they are well-placed in the news cycle.

Surprise Trump fans with a headline that mildly praises Trump so as to suck the Deplorable reader in.  Then quickly lower the boom on them with a comment like "Trump doesn't have a rudimentary knowledge of trade...."

A little presumptuous, isn't that Ben?   Don't you first need to weigh both sides of the argument a bit before you pontificate on your vast knowledge of international business?

Wikipedia suggests you never held a real job other than commentator -- and independent lawyer for a brief time.  Oh, but wait!  It says you were a terrific debater as a child.  Seems like that's when you mastered your trademark "concerned" look.  Well schooled, that kid.

And yet President Trump has built a business empire and his advisors are people like Wilbur Ross who single-handedly saved Bethelem Steel, and Carl Icahn, the most celebrated independent Wall Street financier.

Having a blog and working the meat and potatoes circuit doesn't make you a businessman or world trader, Mr. Ben Shapiro.

But I can actually forgive your commentary because it's not really YOUR words after all.  You absorbed the textbook theories of 19th century economists.  Then George Will mentored you on how to sound profound without actually saying anything. 

Continue to do what you do so well: parrot the creed of those greedy oligarchs, stand up for the Davos Globalists as Trump routs them in France, and spout your Never Trump nonsense so we Deplorbles can crush you and your GOPe ilk in 2020.

Go, President Trump!

[poconopundit]

PING! So beautifully said, Rooster. Simple and basic is indeed the key.

And isn’t a mark of Trump’s simple and basic the handshakes he gives to other world leaders. It’s almost universal sign of trust — and agreement to stand by promises.

Promises made, promises kept. That’s true leadership — getting things done.

[WWG1WWA]

“Be a loyal globalist puppet like Rat Romney.”

I should have known better than to read anything by #NeverTrumper Ben. The good news is that people are waking up and liking what PDJT is doing. The crowds that appear wherever he goes are telling. He is doing what we’ve wanted for a long time. People know it. Some would sell us out to the bitter end.

[WWG1WWA]

Yes, it is. Meanwhile Trump is a self-made billionaire and Ben is still...a commentator.

[9YearLurker]

Shapiro is scum but of course Trump is right.

[Comment Not Approved]

Very well said, procopundit.

[Madame Dufarge]

Bravo!!

[EQAndyBuzz]

I would consider Trump one of the leading project managers of our time. He understands the scope, cost, time triangle with the focus on quality. He brings on the right people to do a job and when that job is complete he dismisses them. Everything is meticulously thought out in advance and once the plan is created, as long as there are no conflicts then plan is then implemented.

The reason the left loses every argument against Trump is because it is built into Trump’s planning on what the risks are and he mitigates them. Dealing with the media is a risk that gets built into every project and Trump mitigates it by doing the research and using the lessons learned from previous projects and incorporating them into new opportunities.

This is what the left do not understand. Everything is a project to Trump and because the left and their media nitwits are politically focused, they fail to see what is really behind door number 2.

[Ezekiel]

You just described the yuge problem with established religion that no one dare admit because... “heresy”. The system is so corrupted that the maverick (unorthodox) solution to business IS what is simple, basic and grounded in the truth of how the real world operates.

The Messiah could come along with the basic idea to be excellent to each other, to cut each other some slack so that work could progress, and what would happen next is that the expert swamp dwellers would immediately set about to destroy him. They might even accuse him of incompetence for being particularly gracious and patient with the slow learners.

It explains why few are catching the living parable playing out front and center in the political realms, or on the Washington Monument.

Nobody got to the Moon via business as usual. It required a keen observation and respect of all the natural laws in order to discover the way up which was *through* them, not by any sort of defiance.

President Trump is showing the radical (simple and honest) way of success, which of course is bad news for those who profit from perpetual dysfunction and confusion. Because if anyone should become the slightest bit curious about this new and different way, it’s game over.

[poconopundit]

...Everything is a project to Trump and because the left and their media nitwits are politically focused, they fail to see what is really behind door number 2.

* * *

Nice, AndyBuzz. Trump engineers his program for success — and risk mitigation is built-in. Political victories are just another set of processes that enable the mainstream project of Making America Great Again.

[McBuff]

Now, Trump's trade policy may not be well-considered. His understanding of trade is rudimentary at best -- he still operates under the assumption that mutually beneficial trade is actually a zero-sum game.

Hey Ben, you don't get your name painted on the side of your private Boeing 757 by having a "rudimentary" understanding of trade and "not well considered" trade policy. Shapiro is a part-time coach of the JV team, Trump is Belichick.

[RoosterRedux]

Amen.

It's the project managers with mud on their boots versus the social engineering professors who never venture off campus.

[bankwalker]

It says you were a terrific debater as a child.

and a true master debater as an adult ...

[poconopundit]

[Robert DeLong]

Very well stated. Ben is a pompous little A-HOLE.