Do any of these candidates really get China?
Republican presidential candidates, from left, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum stand at their podiums during a Republican presidential primary debate hosted by FOX News Channel Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
The eight Republican candidates on the debate stage in Milwaukee Wednesday evening called out a long list of problems facing the country. Immigration, the economy and federal spending were at the top of the lists for most of the debate participants.
Some time, but not a lot, was spent talking about China.
But drill down into many of the problems that the country is currently facing and when you get to the bottom you are likely to find that malign nation. China is our number one geopolitical foe and the number one enemy to the American economy. No intellectually honest observer can look at China and come to any other conclusion.
The list of China’s sins against the United States in particular, and against common international decency in general, is long and growing.
Who now doesn’t believe that the COVID pandemic originated in the Wuhan Virology Lab? Why so little media attention to the fact that even as the Chinese government was, in draconian fashion, isolating Wuhan domestically, they were simultaneously continuing to allow international flights out of the Wuhan airport?
The fentanyl that’s pouring across our southern border and killing upward of 100,000 Americans annually traces its precursor ingredients straight back to China.
At this moment, approximately 350,000 Chinese nationals are enrolled in American universities. It’s estimated that 10 percent or more of them are engaged in espionage. Democratic congressman Eric Swalwell of California, a member of the Homeland Security committee, was romantically involved with Christine Fang, now known to be a Chinese spy. Senator Diane Feinstein, Democrat of California, was chauffeured for years by a Chinese espionage agent.
Go to Home Depot or Target or Wal-Mart and pick up the items you find on the shelves and turn them over. It’s a much better than even money bet that you’ll see there on the back of the package the words, “Made in China.” If you get an infection and need a prescription antibiotic, there is a near 100 percent chance that the pills your pharmacist gives you will have come from China.
China now has a larger navy and a larger army than the United States. China’s school children are better at math and science than U.S. school kids.
China isn’t invincible. They’re having problems, too. The country has a real estate bubble that is bursting as we speak, sparking a debt crisis. Their economy has slowed. Young Chinese people are having an increasingly difficult time finding work.
But China is, nonetheless, a formidable geopolitical opponent that is picking our pockets every day.
So, what are our leaders – Republicans and Democrats – doing about all of this? By all appearances, not much, other than occasionally mouthing some focus-tested words while then pocketing the Chinese money that pours into their campaign war chests and ultimately into their personal bank accounts. (Read: Joe Biden.)
For all his plusses and minuses, Donald Trump had China pegged. The question then becomes, can we say the same about any of the candidates on the debate stage Wednesday night?
Paul, I I am with you on this. So many of our leaders have sold out to China, with our crook president in the forefront. So has our media, and not surprisingly universities where aging communists are ensconced.
We the people need to begin Bud Liting products from China. If the elites will not act, then we the people can do it by boycotting Chinese products. That is exactly what my family has been doing for several years now, and it is also what my business is doing. Before ordering products for our 130+ employee company, my buyers know to check to be sure we are not buying Chinese.
But often that can be a difficult. Here’s an example. For packaging purposes, we order tractor-trailer loads of 7″ x 10″ polypropylene bags several times a year–several million bags. Just recently, our current supplier switched from his American manufacturer to a source in China to get a better price. Having seen this eventuality coming, I was already in the process of trying to locate an alternate American source that can guarantee that the raw material used and the manufacturing would all be American. But finding such a source has turned out to be very difficult, despite my willingness to pay more for American. Apparently, Chinese competition has hollowed out a number of industries. Theseneed to recovered, but recovery will come only if we citizens with our buying power and/or withholding it, forces corporations to bring their operations home.
The fact that my company is having difficulty sourcing inexpensive plastic bags is one thing. We are a small potatoes company.
But what if China cuts off the supply of plastic bags and even more vital items to our military? And what if that’s at a time of war?
The price of our leaders, both government and corporate, selling out to China, will in time yield disastrous results.
Doesn’t make any difference who won the debate. Incest and rape survivors, seniors who remember pre-ROE days and Republican women now voting blue will keep the White House. i am a former Republican and rape survivor. President trump supported incest and rape and life of mother as exceptions . He wont admit it now. No reporter has asked so far.
Excellent column Mr. Gleiser. One statement I will make right away, is that no, I don’t think any of the candidates at the debate have the necessary gravitas to match wits with China, nor do any of them have the necessary know-how.
But one person does. The man, Donald J. Trump, because HE’S DONE IT BEFORE and will do it again. He is the clear choice for such a time as this –NOW– in our Constitutional Republic’s history.
I love our great country.. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, as Founded 1776, and want it to continue as a place where prosperity and opportunity thrive today and for those in the future. But the current administration in Washington, D.C., is doing all it can to wreck it. I believe it is both “on purpose” and sheer incompetence blended together. The individuals of this administration are more concerned about being in tune with globalism and the WEF, than WE THE PEOPLE, a Christian Nation founded 247 years ago under GOD in Freedom. We must change direction in 2024 or our Country’s national outlook is bleak indeed.
To the subject of China, in my view, it exports two things which are doing tremendous damage to our beloved UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. They are communism aka Marxism and low cost cheap made goods. Communism is as great a threat to the U.S.A. as it has always been and why so many of my fellow Americans don’t see that is beyond words. China, which should be referenced red China or communist China, because nothing there has changed about that nation’s totalitarian iron fisted grip over its own people and that same grip they long for the day to get around the United States of America and our Citizens. We cannot let that happen!!!
To me, as an American, “the idea of communism is hateful” as it is the most foul, grisly governing system ever concocted. It is inherently EVIL and demands by force compliance to its atheistic rule in which “the State” becomes god, and its citizens mere serfs. And that, is ALWAYS bad, and no one shall ever convince me otherwise, under whatever name one gives it i.e… socialism, fascism, communism, or Marxism,… as Freedom once lost is gone forever.
Only President Donald J. Trump has the wherewithal stamina and real world business KNOW-HOW to go head to head with the dictator Xi Jinping, of communist China, and come away victorious for AMERICA. It’s so clear, I truly hope others will look back and see all DJT#45 accomplished in just 4 years for ALL Americans. Let’s do it one more time, because it’s imperative to save our Republic, and that’s a fact.
TRUMP 2024 — Make America Great Again!
I am with you all the way, Richard, word for word, and your summation is right on target–“TRUMP 2024 — Make America Great Again!”
Thanks Buddy.
Your opening comment at the beginning about BUYING AMERICAN MADE is very well put. It should be a call to action by all Americans to buy products that are Made In The U.S.A. whenever possible. We can get back to where our nation once was in manufacturing prowess across the board, but it is going to take a major concerted effort. Something more Americans should hold dear, is.. are you really going be happy down the road knowing that a product you may buy is made in red China. I say absolutely not. Many times, if I have an option, I will postpone or not buy something at all if “made in China” is the only source. I have never felt any real pride of ownership when a product is made in that country.. a totalitarian Marxist regime. However, in business these days, as you pointed out, that is a shrinking option as some manufactured items are increasing hard to find that are made here at home. And then there’s the price component.
Germany has made it seeming a mission to create demand for its products by carving out a niche that it makes the world’s best. It’s really not true, in my humble opinion, but many buy into that notion. AMERICAN made is equal to if not often higher in quality. It’s a perceived idea. I know of many American products, as I am sure you do also, that are the best made right here at home. Our Citizens could change that perception by letting customers know the real story THAT MADE IN THE U.S.A. means QUALITY. My brother recently purchased a hardware item for his home and after looking at a big box store, finally made a purchase at a specialized supplier of the same type item, but BETTER, at less cost, and manufactured in AMERICA.
Once upon a time, the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA made everything a person could think of, need, or want. I say we must get that can do spirit back! Henry Firearms in a recent television commercial I saw, said it best, “Made in America, or not made at all.”
Do you really think that the people at the debate really give a flip about this country? There was only one who indicated he was willing to “DEBATE” issues and not harp on President Trump! Do the others think that by cutting President Trump down they were doing themselves a favor…not in my eyes. They were just revealing their shortcomings! President Trump didn’t HAVE to go to the debates because he has already shown the American people and the WORLD what he can do and did do for ALL Americans. President Trump doesn’t have anything to PROVE because he has already done so. What he is going through is not because he enjoys it but for THIS COUNTRY and the CITIZENS of this country. Try and ruminate over that for a while. NO ONE on that debate stage could stand up to what President Trump has and not just today but the entire first term as President! President Trump is what we need for this time because he is a man of ACTION and KNOWS how to get things done! It doesn’t look to me like ANY of the people on that debate stage has a CLUE what America needs, no one on that debate stage could stand up to the INCREDIBLE PRESSURE that President Trump has endured to bring us out of this MESS we are in! One more thing…no matter how often you tout a lie as the truth doesn’t make it so! Something the radical leftists have yet to learn.
I truly believe it would be stunning to know who all in Congress and on that debate stage has some tie to China. You can bet China has attempted to coerce, in one form or another, all politicians in Washington. We are in a raging cold war with China and their allies. Time to get rid of the label was see so often, “Made in China” and replace it with “Made in America”. A healthy dose of American manufacturing would be good for everyone.