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China presents such a big disconnect. A large chunk of the national security/trade world sees China as an expansionist power akin to Nazi Germany. Many coastal Dems by contrast see a peaceful trading partner.
China hawks, which includes a lot of lefties who have experience with China, sound like Trump types. But they are not. They just are aware of the threat. It’s a very strange dynamic.
Coastal Dems also have a strange conspiracy theory mindset. They believe automation is truly what bled jobs, but tens of thousands of Americans have personal experience training their foreign (often Chinese) replacements.
This is a worldwide disconnect. It’s been so long since a genuine challenge to liberal internationalism that Western leaders are immensely coddled, leaving all consideration of threats to paranoid nationalists.
ZOMG tariffs are raising prices on washing machines is just not very important if you think the Chinese govt is like Nazi Germany or if your job went overseas. But it resonates w/consumer oriented Dems. Very odd.
Part of what’s happening is traditional mechanisms to communicate threats don’t work. China’s censorship regime is worldwide. Haven’t seen any Chinese gov’t villains in movies or TV shows recently for a reason...
A Chinese order is terrifying. There really is a global struggle for freedom beginning. It’s bizarre to watch coastal Dems just... not notice.
I’m also personally frightened by the many Dem candidates who don’t see the threat or actively dismiss it. The amount of Chinese $$$ in DC and Western politics is astoundingly large.
China is one area where @chuckschumer is very good. It is weird to watch the UK and Germany invite the Chinese to build their communications networks. Disaster.
@chuckschumer Obviously Trump wants to be an autocrat. So it’s weird to watch him pose as the defender of liberal internationalism against the Chinese. It’s even weirder that he’s kind of right. We can do better than let Trump claim this mantle.
@chuckschumer Whenever I muse on China I get an endless stream of commenters noting the US is a fascist state, or people expressing a desire for Chinese global rule. That’s both coddled thinking and a result of successful Chinese propaganda.
@chuckschumer The reality is we need a coherent relationship with China to address climate change. But that means recognizing the CCP as a dangerous expansionist actor and treating them from that posture.
@chuckschumer To address China we need to stop the hostility to Iran and Russia, and build out a real global approach. The GOP hates Iran and the Dems hate Russia.
@chuckschumer This is a good but older book on how the Chinese state after Tiananmen Square refocused their historical narrative on victimhood and anti-western nationalism to preserve Chinese Communist Party rule. cup.columbia.edu/book/never-for…
