We wouldn’t usually use the term "normal" to evaluate economic platforms, but – as with much of what the top of the Republican ticket have offered – Trump’s own policy prescriptions can only be described with the word that Democrats have used effectively against his party: weird.
Author: Robert F. Delaney
Washington DC-based U.S. Bureau Chief for the South China Morning Post, and author of The Wounded Muse.
Does the GOP know that Tsai Ing-wen loves cats?
The only foreign policy insight we can draw so far is that a Trump-Vance White House would balk at defending Taiwan if it were to be attacked by mainland China owing to the fact that a childless woman known for her love of cats – former Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen – remains a politically influential figure on the island after governing it for eight years.
The bloodshed that showed us Trump’s limits
We are seeing some limits to extremism in Trump’s world, where the January 6 insurrectionists are “patriots”, the FBI is part of a pernicious deep state and autocratic leaders such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban are valorised.
Kudos to Pottinger and Gallagher, on at least one point, sort of
There’s one valid criticism of Biden’s China policy that Matt Pottinger and Mike Gallagher skimmed over in a way that shows how, despite keeping a distance from the Republican Party’s authoritarian extremes, they are unable to completely break free. The US must get into CPTPP.
China manages to forge ahead with an addictive app while America tears itself apart
Supporters of the TikTok bill need to ask themselves how an algorithm developed in China came to dominate America’s social media landscape, a question that is getting lost in the political slugfest surrounding the app.
Hey MAGA: Both sides want to “be someone”
Now that the party is more aligned than ever with Moscow and Beijing in a push for populist ideological purity, Ukraine and possibly Taiwan won’t matter. As the isolationist fervour grows, the only fight left for Republicans is on the culture front.
Beware of Republicans who blame Biden for not appeasing Putin
The Republicans' suggestion that we shouldn’t have made any moves that might disturb Putin is exactly what Stoltenberg was trying to bury during his many appearances in the US, where Republicans are pushing the narrative that President Joe Biden is responsible for the terror that the Russian leader is unleashing.
Remember CVID? Nikki Haley does; Trump thinks it’s a virus
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un got what he wanted, because he understood Trump’s psyche – all that was required to go around Haley was a few “love letters” to Trump, who has never met an authoritarian leader he didn’t like.
The irony of the moment that established Stefanik as the Republican Party’s new leader
Within the cesspool of conspiracy theories, bigotry and misogyny that animates the far-right, there are some legitimate grievances.
If you understand Biden’s strategy, you know the “dictator” comment was also aimed at Trump
Having stood by his assertion that Xi is a dictator, Biden has solidified the ground he stands on going into the election when he portrays Trump as the same.
The Wounded Muse 