A Trump Legacy: A More Powerful China

Donald Trump seems to be driven by the need to produce evidence of a magnificent legacy for himself.  His name is emblazoned on any available edifice or institution.  He takes credit for all that he thinks is good in the news and blames someone else for the bad.  He pleads for awards that would enter his greatness into civilizational history.  He came to his present position by claiming his aim was to Make America Great Again (MAGA).  His performance thus far suggests a new goal: MDGF (Make Donald Great Forever).  MAGA demands long-term plans that need to be executed with forethought and precision.  What we are seeing is frantic careening from one target of opportunity to another.

A person cannot define his own legacy.  Actions taken may produce immediate highs or lows, but they also produce long-term consequences.  It is those latter effects and how they are viewed in the future that define a legacy.

One of Trump’s MAGA duties should be actions taken to ensure that the United States does not fall behind China economically, technically, militarily, or politically.  The Economist suggested this hypothesis about Trump’s actions.

“His chaotic policymaking means many now see China as a stabilising presence. In the eyes of the world, China seems to be growing into an awesome rival to America.”

This notion was investigated in the article China’s growing global fan club.

“To test this thesis, The Economist, working with GlobeScan, a consulting and polling firm, asked 32,000 people in 32 countries for their views on China and America between July and September. The results are startling. Since we last asked the question a year ago, China has made big gains as the world’s preferred ‘leading power’…”

This chart exhibited some of the results’

“China wants to be seen as America’s peer. Preference for China as the world’s leading power has risen in every place sampled by GlobeScan. Perhaps most surprisingly, that includes America, where support for Chinese leadership doubled to (a still low) 6%. Meanwhile, two in every five Americans thought that China’s influence in the world was ‘mainly positive’, up from a quarter during Mr Trump’s first term.”

“When it comes to picking China as the leading power, the largest regional increases were in Latin America and Europe. In Brazil, Canada, Mexico, South Africa and Spain, preferences for China rose (and support for America fell) by about 20 percentage points.”

“For perhaps the first time, more than half of respondents in Africa and the Middle East opted for China. Many already liked the country anyway, which may be partly thanks to China’s Belt and Road Initiative. In the past decade the scheme has seen tens of billions of dollars invested in those regions. Still, this most recent bump of nine points takes China over the majority mark, so lends some credibility to China’s claims to lead the global south.” 

Being viewed favorably by another country is considered “soft power.”  In such an instance that country is more likely to be a collaborator or an ally. 

“Soft-power victories matter both to China and to its president, Xi Jinping, in the country’s bid to be a superpower.” 

China has had a Make China Great Again Plan since the 1950s.  Xi Jinping has long-term plans that are being executed with forethought and precision.

“Mr Trump has picked fights with South Africa over false claims of a ‘white genocide’ and Brazil for prosecuting its former president and MAGA-ally, Jair Bolsanaro. America’s neighbours, Canada and Mexico, have both been hit with tariffs and threats of invasion. America’s star tends to dim under Republican presidents and sparkle under Democrats, but what is new is that the fall in affection for America is so clearly to the benefit of its biggest rival.”

Trump seems to view soft power as some sort of DEI hoax unworthy of real Americans.

You can learn a little about a lot of things or you can learn a lot about a very few things. Guess which is the most fun.