One of the things I haven't figured out yet, and don't give me the default answer, is the Trump administration communication strategy on China. Follow me a short minute. 1) Trump when talking trade/Xi has generally stuck to ambiguous both sides type of statements and 1/n
when talking about Xi has taken a very positive and personal tone about what a great guy he talking up their relationship and what he wants to do for China. 2) Contrast this with entire direction of policy which has been slowly tightening screws on China rather methodically 2/n
with some variance but if you plotted it out over time the escalation is measured and patient prior to escalation. 3) Then contrast this with the statements made by people like Pompeo and Pence (among others) who have pretty clearly been tasked with playing the bad cop 3/n
What strikes me is that this general pattern is quite clear. Trump some nice and ambiguous things, policy quietly and steadily tightens, administration officials talk about the nuts and bolts of what China is doing and how they need to change. I'm not sure why this strategy 4/n
But it is very clear who has been tasked with what and how distinct/different policy is from the public statements of the ambiguous effusive President are. Just putting this out there.
