What he’s doing seems pretty simple - win back allies against China and tell China he’s not going to put up with their aggression, military south china sea expansion, and trade imbalances. The state department would rather we continue losing like usual. I’ve had the unfortunate privilege to deal with state department people at a lower level and in my opinion almost all of them could go and there would be absolutely no difference. The majority do nothing all day long while a couple junior people attend to US citizen services while treating you like a criminal and often can’t do what they’re supposed to do in two days for two weeks. It’s a joke like most of the bureaucracy. They don’t even pretend to work.
I agree with all that, and also support enlisting Russia to help cut China down to size. It’s the bizarre Pakistan-call that I have a problem with.