Dana7360 —
I agree with your sentiment about this video, and about how easy it is even for China’s leaders to make a mockery of our nation by pointing to Trump. It is sad. I
will say that Trump has not yet taken any final step toward war — but that mis-step too may come, and it may even come under a Democratic President. Wars often start “by accident.”
Anyone who thinks “it doesn't matter” what the rest of the world (including ordinary Chinese) think, that all that matters is how “strong” we are and how much we are “feared,” seriously overestimate our strength.
In the nuclear age, we all will die in a World War. This has been obvious for generations. When the U.S. won the Cold War, we were competing against a decaying system that could not compete with us and did not even try to compete economically. Even so, what did we really win?
Our conventional military forces are less and less able to get their way by bullying, just as our
relative economic strength is in decline. Demographic and material reality are working against us.
Without international trust and cooperation, and radical reforms at home, we will be totally unable to address future ecological (and health) problems. To regain a clear leadership role in the world (not as “the boss” but as a leader worthy of emulation) requires us — at minimum — to pay attention to how others see us.