How is one thing not like the other thing?

You remember the kid preschool game. Let's play again.

We see the American president in some hot water for his

uneconomic belief in tariffs, his aggressive and embarrassing

foreign policy, his poor treatment of foreign investors, his cruelty

at home to those in need of help, and his destruction of science

and medicine and education.

Mr. Xi is in some hot water for his uneconomic continuation of

local investment, his aggressive and embarrassing foreign policy,

his poor treatment of foreign businesses, his ignoring those at

home in need of help, and his destruction of

Following are two excerpts from an article by Jonathan Sumption in the New York Times - Why

Cultural Decline in the U.S. Is a Threat to Democracy. June 2, 2025.

Available at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/02/opinion/united-states-democracy-culture.html?campaign_id=2&emc=edit_th_20250603&instance_id=155772&nl=today%27s-

headlines&regi_id=37887820&segment_id=199176&user_id=23803089b69362f978e6a11f5eda6d96

Tell me whether this article is about Xi or Trump.

Hence the significance of  (the leader)... who exhibits the three classic symptoms of totalitarianism: a charismatic leader surrounded by a personal cult, the identification of the state with himself and a refusal to accept the legitimacy of opposition or dissent. The result is a regime of discretionary government in place of the government of laws that the founders saw as the chief defense against tyranny.

...

The tragedy is that historical experience warns us that strongmen do not get things done. At best they may indulge the fantasies of some of the population. But at what cost? Strongmen tend to be fixated on a few simple ideas that they offer as solutions to complex problems. The concentration of power in a small number of hands and the absence of wider deliberation and scrutiny enable them to make major decisions on the hoof, without proper forethought, planning, research or consultation. Within the government’s ranks, a strongman promotes loyalty at the expense of wisdom, flattery at the expense of objective advice, and self-interest at the expense of the public interest. All of this usually makes for chaos, political breakdown, economic impoverishment and social divisions.

 Mr. Xi is currently in more hot water than is Trump. But wait a while. Hope springs eternal.

I think the Latin is res ipsa loquitur.  The thing speaks for itself. I guess they are both winners -

Peas in a Pod

… and just another way that DJT and GOP have a strong resemblance to XJP and CCP -

This below is from Jude Blanchette at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the non-partisan and thoughtful advisor on American foreign policy. At China Books Review he reviews two China books, both of which are due their own accolades. But this is Blanchette on Xi. Go ahead and do the substitution – replace the name Xi with Trump, when you read Party think of GOP, and think of US instead of China -

Unlike his predecessors, who often adopted more cautious or internally-focused approaches, Xi has mobilized far greater resources and directed the full machinery of the Party toward strategic ambitions on the world stage. His methods — which blend Leninist control with modern economic, technological and military prowess — represent a more aggressive and concentrated effort to reclaim China’s historical stature, with the long-term goal of challenging the current global power balance.

That is the goal. Yet it is becoming more evident by the day that to achieve this objective, Xi is corrupting the machinery of effective governance, like Stalin and Mao did before him. He has replaced pragmatism with paranoia, merit with loyalty, and debate with blind obedience. Governing institutions, that once seemed to be serving the nation as a whole, now serve one man’s unrelenting pursuit of power for the Party that he leads. Bureaucratic professionalism is giving way to fear-driven stagnation, as officials scramble to stay in favor, not to solve governance challenges. The promise of a prosperous, harmonious society has been bartered for the promise of stability, security and “national greatness.” Yet the price of pursuing these goals — paid in the currency of repression — continues to rise. The question is not just whether Xi will achieve his aims, but what will be left of China if he does.

What’s that line about “if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck”?  Narcissistic authoritarians think alike.

On denying American kids their birthright to be self-absorbed

The  US Congress, in a surprising bipartisan move, approved a requirement that the social media app TikTok be sold or banned in the US. TikTok, for anyone who may not know, is a video app from ByteDance, a highly successful Chinese company. President Biden has said he would sign a bill containing a ban. Now it is up to the Senate.

Users of TikTok are outraged. How can American free speech, free press, free ability-to-do-anything-I-want be threatened by such insidious government censorship? American teenagers are panicked.

But the principal user of TikTok – CCP – is the most outraged of all.

Stupid is as stupid does - MAGA-stupidity in China

 You’ve heard some of the MAGA stories – that Trump is sent from God, that inflation is raging, that the government is coming to take your (pick your noun) guns, kids, bible, Way of Life. The Chinese are sending spies to walk across the border with the illegal immigrants.

No question but the number of such stories would explode were the orange-haired baboon to be re-elected. At the highest level, the government itself would promote some of the stories.

Just a minor note on dreams, American and Chinese

There is plenty written on the American Dream. We all have an idea of what that means. It is part of our civil religion, as Robert Bellah might have suggested in his 1967 Civil Religion in America.

 China-US: Some Similarities

A bit long, but worth perusing .... use the red highlights to skip around ... note - some figures are only screen shots of originals, so they look a little ... unkempt. Apologies.
 

An introduction

The US and China are two big countries and big countries with modern economies will necessarily have some similar problems. Middle class Chinese have concerns quite similar to those of middle class Americans. 

We write all the time about differences between the US and China. Amid the anxiety and paranoia about ascendant China it might help to consider a few ways in which the US and China are similar. Just for some perspective. I'm not suggesting identical causation, only similarities in the way people experience the world. I ignore a lot of other similarities and all the differences in this short list. Some items might be interesting or fun or a bit of nourishment for you. No one should take this as an intimate analysis of those similarities that I do find. I am not making an argument here, just listing some elements of culture or economics that I find similar in China and the US.