Deal: The Siberian Tiger and the Panda Hug

Xi, Biden, Cameron, Ukraine, Hamas, Drugs and Hugs

The White House and China struck a deal in San Francisco. I say The White House because the Chinese, and everyone else, can see perfectly well that the President is not well and cannot be relied upon to say the right thing at the right time. This is why President Xi overlooked President Biden’s inappropriate “he’s a dictator” comment amid their meetings. The look on the face of the Secretary of State revealed his fear that Biden might mess up the deal that had been struck between Biden’s advisors, who are trying to stay in power by blessing Biden’s successor and Xi. The White House wants a rapprochement with China so that they can gently escort the President out and Newsom in. To do this, they need China’s help in making many election-sensitive issues go away, including inflation, Ukraine, Taiwan, Hamas, the fentanyl crisis, and more. So, what is the deal?

First, let’s understand the why. After years of increasingly aggressive tactics and rhetoric against China, why is there a sudden desire by The White House to kiss and make up? Obviously, the President’s polls are collapsing. Challengers like President Trump, Nikki Haley, and Robert F Kennedy Junior are seriously outpacing the President in fundraising, approval ratings, and polling. Each could potentially beat Biden at this point.

One reason is Biden’s health. People also think a vote for him is really a vote for the Vice President. This administration has never been keen on The VP. But, now The Hill reports, “Harris' net-negative rating of -17 is the lowest for a vice president in the history of its poll”. The White House wants a better running mate. They want Newsom. This implies they are all in an echo chamber and do not understand that the country is not keen to import California’s policies to the Federal level. They’ll find out this surprising truth on election day, no doubt. The critical question is how they’ll try to change horses here. Dropping the VP will not go well with many voters. But if the announcement is accompanied by a bunch of serious wins on other fronts, it might be possible to keep it from dominating the headlines.

They need to make the wars in Ukraine and Israel go away. Ukraine was already becoming too expensive. It is even harder to justify the spending to the American public, partly because the President never really explained what is at stake and partly because political opponents like Trump and Kennedy are gaining ground with their commitment to end the “forever wars.” President Zelensky’s decision to hold off on