Share this page!

Patrick Chovanec Profile picture
Twitter logo
9 Jul, 4 tweets, 1 min read
If China invaded Taiwan, and President Biden sent US forces to defend it, what would the Fox News/Newsmax narrative be? I am genuinely curious.
I suspect it would be that Biden's weakness invited the invasion, and that he was screwing up the conduct of the war (perhaps on purpose). Unlike with Putin, they couldn't openly side with China.
But I wonder how far it would go. Would it simply be scoring points off Biden, or would they actively oppose the war effort itself?
This is not just idle political speculation. I imagine the prospect of serious internal US political division plays an important role in Beijing's strategic calculations of what a US response would look like, and whether it is to be feared as a factor.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Patrick Chovanec

Patrick Chovanec Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @prchovanec

Patrick Chovanec Profile picture
10 Jul
Cultural appropriation is how all cultures work. Pass it on.
I get a kick when people say "You can't serve sushi, that's cultural appropriation" when Japanese culture is masterful at appropriating and integrating foreign elements. Many things we think of as quintessentially Japanese, like Hello Kitty, are culturally appropriated.
Africans enslaved in America culturally appropriated the story of the Jews as told by white Christians and the result was inspiring and beautiful.
Read 4 tweets
Patrick Chovanec Profile picture
10 Jul
Biden’s full response (in the video) sounds to me like a textbook description of the kind of “foreign policy realism” a lot of critics of “forever wars” have been demanding.
In other words, a lot of bad things happen in a lot of countries around the world, but the US has to exercise some good sense about what it is realistically able to do about it, especially in terms of exercising military force.
These are words, by the way. Biden should be judged on policy, which is a lot more difficult to get right, not words. But the words themselves are not objectionable, as some are trying to portray.
Read 5 tweets
Patrick Chovanec Profile picture
10 Jul
The US reported +347 new coronavirus deaths yesterday, bringing the total to 622,329. The 7-day moving average rose slightly to 221 deaths per day. Image
The US had +24,460 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 yesterday, bringing the total closer to 34.7 million. The 7-day moving average rose to 16,767 new cases per day, its highest level since June 1st. Image
Five US states reported over 1,000 new cases yesterday. Florida led the pack with nearly 4,000 new cases, followed by Texas with over 2,000. Missouri and Arkansas are becoming a new hot spot of rising cases. Image
Read 16 tweets
Patrick Chovanec Profile picture
8 Jul
The reality is that the US is not driving the push for decoupling and confrontation now. Beijing is.
Some are responding "for some time now". Not true, in my view. The 2008 crisis definitely altered Beijing's view of the US for the worse, but even during Trump's trade war, China was looking for ways to deescalate. This changed in 2019, and solidified in 2020.
You can say "deescalate on their own terms" and that's absolutely correct. But the shift towards China seeing decoupling as an objective is of much more recent vintage, the past two years or so. And I think it's a very alarming trend.
Read 11 tweets
Patrick Chovanec Profile picture
8 Jul
Preoccupied with the coming July 4 weekend last Friday, I didn't do a download of the June employment report. So I'll rectify that, before any more time goes by.
The US economy added +850,000 new jobs in June. That is still -6.8 million jobs below February 2020.
The unemployment rate rose slightly in June to 5.9%.
Read 15 tweets
Patrick Chovanec Profile picture
8 Jul
Tucker did. Even if someone in the US government were aware of Tucker's conversations being intercepted, they (properly) didn't make it public in an attempt to cast aspersions on him. Tucker is the only reason we've heard anything about this.
If Tucker had been "unmasked" for political motives, you'd think we'd have heard about Tucker's calls from someone who wanted to use it to damage him. But we didn't. We heard about it solely from Tucker.
If the US government overhears you talking to foreign agents, doesn't make it public, and maybe - I don't know if this happened or not - privately tells you you've been picked up and might want to be more careful who you talk to, that doesn't strike me as a political hit job.
Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @prchovanec has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @prchovanec!

Read all threads by @prchovanec

:(