Folks, I’m sipping my coffee and reading about President Trump’s latest comments on China, and I’ve got to say, it’s been an interesting ride. Five days after blaming China for “the largest compromise of election data in history,” Trump is now shrugging off Beijing’s actions and saying the United States is doing the same thing. I mean, I’ve seen some flip-flops in my time, but this one takes the cake.
I’m trying to keep up with Trump’s train of thought here, but it seems like he’s saying that the alleged breach of 220 million US voter files, which he claimed was an “unprecedented election security nightmare” just last week, is now water under the bridge. He’s saying it happened a long time ago, and China is “maybe a little bit different today than it was then.” Okay, sure, because that’s exactly how international relations work – we just forget about past transgressions and move on.
Trump then went on to say that the alleged infringement was no different from US actions against China. He said, “They do things and we do things to them… I’ll be honest, we do things to them too. It’s not a one-way street.” I’m not sure what’s more surprising, the fact that he’s admitting to retaliatory measures or the fact that he’s being so candid about it.
Meanwhile, planning is still underway for President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the United States in September. I guess that’s one way to show China who’s boss – invite them over for a state dinner and then lecture them about their alleged misdeeds. The White House hasn’t responded to questions about potential repercussions for China, including sanctions, so we’ll just have to wait and see how this all plays out.
It’s days like this that I’m reminded of why I love reading the news – it’s never boring, and you can’t make this stuff up. Somewhere in Atlanta, a producer thought this sounded like a great story, and now I’m sitting here trying to make sense of it all. In conclusion, it seems like Trump is taking a rather relaxed approach to the whole situation, and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Either way, I’m just going to sit back, sip my coffee, and enjoy the show – after all, it’s not every day you get to see international diplomacy play out like a game of tit-for-tat.
Armchair patriot. Believes in the free market, cold beer, and that there’s always a guy named George behind every CNN segment.
Former remote-throwing champion turned #1 couch commentator on liberal panic in the media. Born in Texas (or so his mug says), he earned a degree in Fake Newsology & Beer Philosophy from YouTube University.
