The outcome of the Trump-Xi meeting was nowhere near the 12 (on a scale of 1 to 10) that Trump claimed it was. From Simplicus at simplicius76.substack.com:
Yesterday, the long-awaited head-to-head between Trump and Xi finally took place in South Korea.
The ‘showdown’ between the two superpowers of the United States and China had been culminating for quite some time with Trump’s ‘hardball’ tariff war meant to vassalize China in the same way that had been done to Europe. But as we covered recently, China has cultivated a newborn determination and confidence against its stagnant opponent, which has led to startling displays of US ambiguity and backpeddling.
Firstly, let us mention how quintessentially awkward and weak Trump looked in front of Xi:
This is because, as I had mentioned on X, Trump is so used to upstaging his servile and fawning ‘Western’ counterparts with a grab bag of showman’s gags and gimmicks that he looks positively out of his depth before a true statesman of Xi’s caliber. The overly glib demeanor and nervous antics fell completely flat before a stone-faced Xi, who did not seem even remotely impressed by Trump’s boisterous ‘Western charm’. Despite the fact that Trump is actually Xi’s elder by seven years, the optics gave more the impression of a man suffering a manchild, to the Chinese leader’s favor.
