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>>> I fear a guy like Trump as president would probably ruin it for a variety of reasons. I am not a trump supporter, in fact he started the tough policy on ch

by ngc248 5y ago

>>> I fear a guy like Trump as president would probably ruin it for a variety of reasons. I am not a trump supporter, in fact he started the tough policy on china, the quad etc Why would he mess it up. He may talk shit, but at least his policies have been sound and the Biden admin is continuing with a lot of them

jollybean 5y ago
He messed up TPP. Trump has no moral compass, sees everything in terms of personal power dynamics and that's it. He can't fathom appeals to bigger ideas or issues, or even strategic concerns. He deals with countries, as though they are run by other, like-minded real-estate magnates who just want to make a bunch of money and wherein personal relations can be everything. He doesn't understand that his words are not 'his words' rather, they are the words of the USA. The obvious example is TPP. TPP was a way to get everyone on the table in Asia except China to have some kind of coordinated leverage. He killed it. His instinct about leverage is actually not that far off: USA has a lot more leverage against any single nation. But is strategic instinct is more than lacking, it's stupid. He just can't understand that the US isn't in a dominant position vis-a-vis China, but that 'most of the Pacific' actually is, to the extent they can work together. Also, Trump admires 'strong men', wants to get along with them, appease them, as there always deals in the works that could come from it. Trump's kids were raking in real-estate investments while he was president, because he's powerful, Chinese are attracted to that - and - they want to curry favour. Trump is all about selling his brand irrespective of whether it's his office or not to sell. 'Trump White House Steak Knives'. Trump is pretty good at being 'crazy like a fox' and escalating in anger which actually has some use in foreign policy, but that instinct can be just as much a drawback. TPP was going to be a really good deal. He dumped it for stupid reasons. Also, I don't doubt for a second that someone could convince him to throw Taiwan under the bus: "I talked to Xi. He's very, very smart man. Taiwan, you know, it's in China. They even call it China! Did you know that? I just found that out - he told me that. So I think that they need to work that out over there, you know. Xi is a wise man, wise man. We get along great, just great. We're going to do a lot of business together. Big business".

by ngc248 5y ago

jollybean 5y ago

He messed up TPP. Trump has no moral compass, sees everything in terms of personal power dynamics and that's it. He can't fathom appeals to bigger ideas or issues, or even strategic concerns. He deals with countries, as though they are run by other, like-minded real-estate magnates who just want to make a bunch of money and wherein personal relations can be everything. He doesn't understand that his words are not 'his words' rather, they are the words of the USA. The obvious example is TPP. TPP was a way to get everyone on the table in Asia except China to have some kind of coordinated leverage. He killed it. His instinct about leverage is actually not that far off: USA has a lot more leverage against any single nation. But is strategic instinct is more than lacking, it's stupid. He just can't understand that the US isn't in a dominant position vis-a-vis China, but that 'most of the Pacific' actually is, to the extent they can work together. Also, Trump admires 'strong men', wants to get along with them, appease them, as there always deals in the works that could come from it. Trump's kids were raking in real-estate investments while he was president, because he's powerful, Chinese are attracted to that - and - they want to curry favour. Trump is all about selling his brand irrespective of whether it's his office or not to sell. 'Trump White House Steak Knives'. Trump is pretty good at being 'crazy like a fox' and escalating in anger which actually has some use in foreign policy, but that instinct can be just as much a drawback. TPP was going to be a really good deal. He dumped it for stupid reasons. Also, I don't doubt for a second that someone could convince him to throw Taiwan under the bus: "I talked to Xi. He's very, very smart man. Taiwan, you know, it's in China. They even call it China! Did you know that? I just found that out - he told me that. So I think that they need to work that out over there, you know. Xi is a wise man, wise man. We get along great, just great. We're going to do a lot of business together. Big business".