Dem
53
Ties
2
GOP
45
At a national security briefing last Thursday, Republican senators were told that China and Iran are deepening military ties and Chinese satellite data helped Iran kill American soldiers in Jordan. They DO NOT LIKE Donald Trump cozying up to Chinese president Xi Jinping and treating him like his new best friend instead of a murderous dictator who has helped kill American soldiers. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said that the 21-gun salute and B-1 bomber flyer were "over the top." Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said: "I understand the importance of engagement and diplomacy, but inviting Putin to the G20 and rolling out the red carpet for President Xi, I'm not enthusiastic about that." Referring to the deaths of the American soldiers in Jordan, Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) said: "It's fine he's here, and it's fine that he treats him like a foreign leader, but it's also important that he [Trump] confronts these issues with him [Xi]." Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) said Trump should "not invite Xi Jinping to Washington for such a lavish welcome." The normally mild-mannered Wicker went onto the Senate floor to remind Trump that "his guest is a brutal, unelected and oppressive dictator who seeks to dominate his neighbors and whose massive military arsenal is aimed directly at the United States of America." Sen. Thom Tills (R-NC) said: "We should be having those sorts of reception for people who are not plotting our ultimate demise—not Xi Jinping."
But Trump doesn't care what Republican senators think. He personally went to Joint Base Andrews to welcome Xi to American soil, the first time any president has done that in 64 years for any foreign leader other than the pope. Trump also flattered Xi excessively, saying it was a great privilege to receive Xi. The flattery was not returned. Xi merely said "President Trump and I have respect for each other." Nothing more. Trump didn't dare hold a joint press conference with Xi out of fear reporters would ask why he used to say China was America's biggest enemy and now he is a supplicant to the great Chinese leader. Some people might even think it odd that he was running ads calling Democrats communists (which they are not) while palling around with an unrepentant and proud actual communist.
Was anything of importance accomplished at the summit meeting? Basically, no. Here is a brief summary of what transpired:
Trump probably doesn't have a clue who Thucydides was.
In short, nothing at all was accomplished except Trump looking like Xi's lapdog. Oh, wait. something was accomplished. All the tech billionaires were treated like important diplomats. Present at the state dinner were Sam Altman (Open AI), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Tim Cook (Apple), Jensen Huang (Nvidia), Elon Musk (Tesla) and Sundar Pichai (Google). They all surely have the best interests of the American people in their hearts. (V)