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| Xi Jingping |
China keeps on winning. While campaigning in 2026, Donald Trump boasted to supporters that they will get tired of winning: “We are going to win so much, you may even get tired of winning, and you’ll say “please, please it’s too much winning, we can’t can’t take it anymore,” the candidate said.
China’s leader Xi Jingping has done a lot of winning of late, thanks to Trump.
The Washington Post’s Max Boot published an opinion piece on Aug 4 called “China is winning the trade war that Trump started.”
Edward Luce of the Financial Times followed up on Aug 5 with “Trump is the gift that keeps giving to China.”
Both writers note that Trump, while kowtowing before strongman Li, is punishing America’s traditional Asia-Pacific allies. For instance, his decision to slap a 25 percent tariff on China rival India for importing from Russia is especially sweet for Li. That's nuts.
The US has been strengthening its ties with India during the past 25 years. The goal is to make the world's most populous nation a counterbalance to China in the region. India also is part of the US, Australia and Japan quad alliance designed to contain China.
Trump could be the guy to make China and India friends again.
He also threw Li a bone by shuttering the Voice of America, which was a thorn in the side of the Chinese dictator. A spokesperon for Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs called VOA a “lie factory that stirs up conflict” with a “notorious track record in their China coverage”.
VOA challenged China for its brutal repression of the Uighur ethnic minority and its threat to Taiwan. When VOA was created during WWII, China was among its first targeted countries.
Luce noted “some observers could be forgiven for thinking Trump wants to keep China winning." Maybe Trump was referring to The Middle Kingdom and its leader during those 2016 campaign rallies.
Keep 'em distracted. Trump Media and Technology Group is using the same “distract and divert attention” strategy that is the hallmark of its biggest stockholder.
In its Q2 "earnings" release, TMTG headlined its nearly $2.4B Bitcoin hoard of treasuries, which provides it with a “tremendous level of liquidity and financial freedom.”
That trove gives investors “indirect exposure to cryptocurrencies” and solidifies the company’s financial freedom including “enhancing security against debunking and other acts of political discrimination,” according to the release.
Does TMTG anticipate that black helicopters will be hovering over its 2026 annual meeting?
What gets short-shrift in the release? How about revenues? A curious reader will find that information buried in paragraph nine.
The news is not so hot. TMTG chalked up a paltry $900K in revenues, which is rounded up from the actual $883.3K that is listed in the company’s 10-Q. It lost $20M.
It’s hard to believe that TMTG can’t generate more revenues from its consumer-facing Truth Social platform since it is the primary megaphone used by the dear leader.
Are you ready for another diversion? TMTG announced Aug. 6 that it has begun public beta testing of its Truth Search AI, a tool that will make the Truth Social platform “an even more vital element in the Patriot Economy,” said CEO Devin Nunes.
Forget the smokescreens: Dev needs more Patriots to enlist at the Truth Social site to smoke out more advertisers.
Pope Leo is enjoying his PR honeymoon… The first American pope, who was elected May 8, chalked up a 57 percent favorability rating in a Gallup poll ranking 14 top newsmakers.
The Chicago native beat the ratings of No. 2 Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky (52 percent) and No. 3 Senator Bernie Sanders (49 percent).
Leo pulled exceptionally well among polled Democrats, who gave him a 68 percent net-favorable score. He scored 39 percent among Independents and 33 percent for Republicans.
Leo though shouldn’t let the Gallup ratings go to his head.
His initial ranking is on par with what Pope Francis (58 percent) and Pope Benedict (55 percent) polled when they first were elected.
Will Leo go the way of Francis, who had the same Gallup rating before he exited the scene, or Benedict? Even God couldn’t help dour German, who clocked out at 40 percent when he decided to relinquish the Throne of St. Peter.
My hunch is that the Chicago White Sox fan will follow the footsteps of Francis.
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