Trump leaves China weaker than when he got there

Xi scolded Trump on Taiwan, while Trump got no help on Iran on anything else after gushing over the Chinese president repeatedly.

You know Donald Trump is feeling very small when he goes on a tirade against a reporter.

Afraid to stand up to President Xi, who warned him during their China summit that Trump had better tread carefully on U.S. ally Taiwan or there could be “conflict,” Trump later let loose on New York Times reporter David Sanger on the way back from China, calling him “treasonous” for his reporting on Iran.

It’s a familiar pattern. Trump regularly attacks the media, Democrats, and millions of other Americans as the enemy of the people while bowing to our adversaries and dictators around the world.

Trump went on a blitz on Truth Social the night before he left for China, attacking President Obama as a “traitor” who should be arrested and also accusing Hillary Clinton and James Comey of “treason.” It was a 55-post vicious tirade of empty accusations.

But when Trump got to China, he told Xi, “You’re a great leader. I say it to everybody: you’re a great leader. Sometimes, people don’t like me saying it, but I say it anyway because it’s true. I only say the truth.”

He gushed and gushed: “It’s an honor to be with you. It’s an honor to be your friend.”

The Chinese leader didn’t return the accolades.

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At no time did Xi call Trump a great president or even acknowledge any positive personal qualities about him. Xi was not about to lie on the world stage nor let his people see him bowing to Trump with phony commendations. Chinese citizens had been mocking Trump in memes that went viral as he arrived, sarcastically using the nickname Chuan Jianguo, “nation builder,” for Trump—meaning his reckless policies in the US and with regard to European allies help build the nation of China.

Xi knew that he could easily play Trump without verbally complimenting him by simply making Trump feel special, feeding his narcissism with other gestures—while maintaining dominance over him. There was a welcoming parade, with the Chinese military and crowds of children holding flowers and American flags. There was a 21-gun salute and a band played the Star-Spangled Banner.

It worked like a charm, as Trump sucked it up: “That was an honor like few I’ve ever seen before,” he said.

So Xi, like other authoritarians who’ve been able to work Trump—from Benjamin Netanyahu to Mohammed bin Salman—knew how to manipulate Trump by feeding his unending need for adoration while getting precisely what he wanted from Trump.

Once the talks started, Xi made it clear who was in charge. In what foreign policy experts said was striking language, Xi warned Trump regarding Taiwan.

Xinhua, China’s official news agency, released a readout of the meeting: “Handled well, the two countries can maintain stability. If handled poorly, the two countries will collide or even clash, putting the entire U.S.-China relationship in an extremely dangerous situation.”

Trump bowed to Xi completely, a supplicant to the clearly stronger authoritarian, offering no response at all to this statement, per the Washington Post:

In the meeting, Trump did not respond to Xi’s comments about Taiwan and moved on to the next topic without acknowledging them at all, according to a White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive closed-door meeting.

This was pathetic, and the optics of the trip for the American people heading into the mid-terms were bad from the start. Trump brought tech company CEOs, including Tim Cook, Elon Musk, and Jensen Huang of Nvidia, so they could get deals. He also brought his son Eric Trump—as one of the 30 business leaders Trump said were there with him—to cut deals for the Trump family, making the self-dealing front and center.

Some of these tech leaders want deals on precious minerals and AI. But Trump didn’t even get that. He, in fact, left China without a breakthrough on AI, Iran, or Taiwan. As The Guardian explains:

The US president had gone into the two-day talks with China’s Xi Jinping weakened by his prolonged war in Iran, and did little to change the perception that he and his nation are diminished on the global stage.

Instead it was Xi who delivered the sharpest rhetoric of the meeting – over the future status of the self-governing island of Taiwan, with Trump notably failing to push back.

In his final remarks in Beijing on Friday, Trump did claim that the US and China struck “fantastic trade deals”, although details were scarce, and that he and Xi settled “a lot of different problems”.

Trump continued giving Xi more of what the Chinese leader wants, saying on Air Force One he hadn’t decided if the U.S. will move ahead with a major arms package for Taiwan that had been planned for this year. He also said he was considering lifting sanctions on Chinese companies buying Iranian oil, telling Sean Hannity that Xi promised him China won’t give Iran military equipment—even though Chinese companies are planning to sell arms, something that, in a communist dictatorship, can only be discussed with Xi’s permission.

But Trump did get one thing out of the visit: more inspiration and encouragement for his billion-dollar ballroom that Republicans are getting cold feet about funding, posting on Truth Social as he was leaving China: “China has a Ballroom, and so should the U.S.A.!”

What a complete embarrassment. Once again the U.S. is a laughingstock on the world stage. But this time it underscored how Trump is making the U.S. weak and making our adversary, China, strong. And that has serious ramifications.